Second Chance
by DarkestVampire
Summary: PTSD is a common problem with shipgirls. Traumatic experiences close to their sinking often migitate their combat capabilities- to get rid of them, Akashi developed a virtual simulation program to relive their last moments. Shichiro and Musashi are her guinea pigs for the test run. A harmless experiment- but things get serious fast when Nimitz gets involved.


Time is relative to the observer, the sky is only blue because our eyes see it as such, and feelings are nothing more than hormones being spilled out. Our reality is as fake as any we make up for ourselves- the only thing that makes it 'real' is that we think we´re alive.

* * *

When Admiral Shichiro Yamamoto was called down to Akashi´s workshop, he didn´t think about such complicated things. The young man was in his mid-twenties, five foot ten inches tall and relatively pale for a Japanese man- a contrast to his black hair, which bangs partially hung into his eyes at times, but were lazily combed aside most of the time. Light brown eyes, thin lips and an angular face made him reasonably popular with the Shipgirls, though less so for his looks than for his character. Much to their chagrin, he was not engaged with any of them yet- though some few ships could claim to have spent the night with him before. He stretched his arms, humming lightly… he didn´t think much, coming into the workshop but he rather stood in silent astonishment in the device she created in the recently constructed hall behind the main dockyard. Four chairs which seemed not unlike the ones one would find at a dentist, life support systems for each one, thick coils of wires hanging down above each one, ending in a myriad of sensors and attachments. Behind all this, a long row of servers, easily possessing enough processing power to run half the internet. Where did she get all of this from, he asked himself in mild terror as he thought of this month´s budget… but as the pink haired engineer came up behind him and patted his back, things would clear up soon.  
"Nice view, eh? A donation from the Geneva Computer Science University- they used to run calculations for missile trajectories off of those servers, but I figured I'd put that mechanical muscle to better use."  
"What kind of use, mind control?" He jokingly asked, pointing at the chairs. "Looks like you want to plug us right into the matrix here."  
Akashi grinned.  
"Not far off, boss. I´ve developed software that can not only simulate a real life environment in a sleep-like state of your mind, but you can interact with it too. A lotta shipgirls have PTSD and other traumas about their sinking moments, about some significant battle they lost and some experiences of their past life- with this, we can tap into their memories, recreate that scenario- and give them a chance to win it." She explained, crossing her arms over triumphantly. "Whatcha think?"  
"I think you´re a genius, if you did all that yourself in your spare time..." Shichiro blinked, still staring at the humming servers. To think that a virtual world one could walk around in was in those, just waiting to be explored- it was a thrilling thought, though he still had some concerns. "Though, isn't it dangerous to tap directly into one's mind?"  
Akashi shrugged. "Maybe for you humans, but not unless you do it for a long period of time… Shipgirls are completely fine with it, or they should be anyway- the OS is based on what runs each and every one of us, and we´re synthetic creatures. Getting plugged into another machine shouldn´t harm us in any way." She crossed her arms. "Any other concerns?"  
"Many. But mostly… I'm a bit curious." Shichiro grinned, crossing his as well and tilting his head. "Let me guess, you want a test pilot?"  
"I got one." Akashi grinned back. "But she needs a partner. I don't feel comfortable sending her in alone… you´re the best man for the job."  
"Expendable?" He asked, jokingly.  
"Expendable, annoying, a pervert and generally someone… every single one in this base would miss, including me." Her grin turned into a smile, something she´d nearly forgot how to do before she got assigned to this base. "I'm not sending you off to your death, boss. But I know you´d love to explore a whole new world with that girl."  
Smiling back at her, he paused for a moment before asking the obvious. "Well, who is it?"  
"Me." It came from behind him, a harsh, but still harmonic voice. A quick turn on his heel confirmed it.

"Musashi?" He asked, surprised. "You´ve got PTSD?"  
"Not so much that as that it irritates me how little difference I ended up making with my sacrifice." Musashi muttered her arms crossing over under her chest as she looked off to the side, to the servers. "I gave my life for the cause, and in the end it didn´t change anything. So for this test run, I want to do as much damage as I can- and survive!" Looking back at him, her glance became determined. "That's why I want you to be my partner. There´s no man on this earth who could make this happen but you, I'm sure of this."

"….That's a lot you´re asking of me there… you remember how Leyte Gulf went down, right? Task Group 38 deploying four, five fleet carriers and sinking you with over five hundred airplanes?"  
"I remember. I was there." Musashi muttered, raising an eyebrow.  
"….Right, sorry." He returned, swallowing a bit as he avoided her gaze. Instead, he faced Akashi once more. "…Alright then. I'll be your test pilot for this, Akashi…"

"Good. Just lie down on those chairs then, I'll hook you up to the life support and the interface… I hope you´re not scared of needles, cuz I'll need to put one in your arm for the artificial feeding." Akashi grinned, gesturing over to the chair. Reluctantly, he followed, and Musashi sat down beside him… as expected, the chairs tilted back and upwards, like a dentist's chair.

"Uh… artificial feeding?" Shichiro asked, taking the words out of Musashis mouth. "Why do we need that…?"

"You know. Quitting the simulation and getting back inside would probably reset everything, so you´ll be in there until you´re done." She explained, attaching sensors, a pair of needles into each arm, and with that, she laid them down into the chairs. A distinct tiredness of a sleeping agent began to flood through their beings, and Shichiro decided to go with it, as he´d be out soon anyway. He closed his eyes, and tried to keep calm for as long as it would take.

„Don´t worry! If something happens in the real world, I'll plug you right back out again. Best of luck to ya!" Akashi said to them, before everything faded away. For a few moments, Shichiro was alone and surrounded in darkness, nothing really going on aside from some faint voice snippets from the outside… then a feeling like he was shot in the head hit him, being violently pulled out of consciousness- only to recover seemingly instantly, the blank, black world around him rapidly filling with life. An ocean, people around him, the sky, a warship…. A much smaller one than he expected. What he also didn´t expect- Musashi was nowhere in sight.

A quick look around, throughout the ship that was definitely overburdened with people- A Yuugumo class destroyer, with a lot of sailors that obviously didn´t belong. They chatted together, ignored him for the most part, while the sea played around with the ship… Shichiro decided to play it cool for now, see what happened… perhaps he´d be pulled out of the simulation in any moment now when Akashi would realize he was in the wrong setting. But nothing like that happened. Instead, a man in uniform came up with a megaphone.

"Attention all hands of Cruiser Maya! You will be ferried over to the nearest ship for transportation. Remain calm and pass the time, we will begin ferries in five minutes!" With this, he stepped down, and approached him with a light nod.  
"Admiral. We´ll put you on the first barge." It seemed to be the commanding officer of this destroyer, and he recognized Shichiro with a single glance. "I´m sorry for the inconvenience, but we´ll have to fill it with other sailors as well. We´re already taking a great risk with this operation." A deep, formal bow followed from him, which put Shichiro off.  
"Its fine, its fine. It doesn´t matter to me if I'm stuck here with these men, or if I spend a few minutes on a barge with them- no need to apologize, these are tough times." Shichiro surprised himself how well he was impersonating someone on the fly. "So which ship are we headed to?"

The answer confirmed his first guess. "Battleship Musashi has capacity and has agreed to ferry you back to Yokosuka, Admiral. The best ship in a two-hundred mile radius for you."

"No doubt." Shichiro snickered, crossing his arms lightly with a smirk. "A short stay in the hotel, and then its straight back into the war. Got it."  
The officer laughed a bit too fake for his tastes, as if he was laughing merely because his superior made a joke. "I'm afraid I've never been on any of the Yamato class ships, but I'm sure there´s far worse ways to travel from one point of hell to another, Admiral!"  
One point of hell to another. Shichiro repeated those words in his head, and cringed a little bit… His ancestor had been dead for a while now. A legendary admiral, so important that his death hadn´t been announced until recently… these men were demotivated, to say the least.

A splash occurred next to them, and nodding, the officer guided him over by the shoulder to the barge that was lowered, in between the two torpedo launchers. "Your ship is about to set sail, Admiral. Best to leave as quickly as you can, so the men don´t eat up all the ice cream. Banzai!" He saluted, Shichiro returning it quickly.  
"…Banzai." With that, he jumped down into the barge, a pair of sailors catching his sides there to keep him from falling over. Twenty others followed, then its engine roared and they drive off of the side of the destroyer, who´s dual smokestacks spewed fumes idly straight into the air…. By now, Shichiro could read the name written on the side. Akishimo.  
"…Sorry Akebono. I´m not going to save your friend today." He muttered to himself, and then enjoyed the trip as much as he could, through rough seas in a tiny motor boat, so late in the day that the sea looked black, and the skies were a murky gray. He expected the sailors to sing a shanty, or perhaps play cards to pass the time, but they just stared straight down, silently. It made sense to him- less than a few hours ago they narrowly escaped death, while others of their crew were not so lucky. They weren´t in the mood for shanties.

It took nearly fifteen minutes- then out of the black of the night something massive came, searchlights shining down on them… a gigantic bow, featuring an equally large, golden Chrysanthemum… the imperial seal of Japan. He´d seen it countless times, Musashi wore it around her neck on a choker… but this thing there, looming overhead, was larger than him in every dimension. As was the ship they were approaching- he couldn't see much, only a faint outline and the bright searchlights, a pair of hoists swinging out to lower a net for them to climb up on… black smoke rising from a large smokestack, electric lights in what seemed like a skyscraper in the middle of nowhere, and the outline of a main gun turret, larger than a truck with trailer.

Two dozen men ran about on deck, reeling in the boat and doing other smaller tasks- as soon as the boat was up, the searchlights turned off, turning the ship into a black shadow among the seas. A black giant.

Shichiro was helped out of the barge by a strong hand, then a much weaker one greeted him, a man in uniform. "Admiral! Good to see you´ve made it as well." The man said with a smile that felt fake, forced and made up, shaking his hand limply. "Welcome aboard the flagship of the Empire, Musashi!"  
"It's an honor." Shichiro simply responded, looking about. "Why are there so many people on deck? And why are the lights turned off?"  
"Quick to the point, aren´t you, Admiral?" The man huffed. "We´re expecting an attack from enemy airplanes… I've told the men to stand by, in case we have to defend ourselves… the scouts can´t see anything in the dark, but those gajin don´t hold back flying blind just to get us."  
"…Then how are you hoping to shoot them down in the dark?" Shichiro´s eyebrow twitched.  
"A few sanshiki will light up the sky! Hopefully long enough for us to take down the attackers, otherwise- well, we´ve got nine barrels, we´ll just keep firing."  
Brilliant strategy, Shichiro thought. Then again, what else could they do? Radar could tell them there was something coming, but the technology to tie radar to the fire control systems wasn´t invented yet.

"Well, best of luck to that, Mister…" Shichiro said, just then realizing he didn´t know the name of this man in uniform- he could barely even see his face in the night. However, a brash voice from his left told him rather clearly.

"Teruzuki. Captain Senran Teruzuki." A light glimmer of bespectacled eyes, along with reflections what appeared to be metal left and right of them. A female voice, strong and determined, from a tall person. "Capable and brave man, but not as experienced as Rear Admiral Asakura used to be."  
"I apologize, Musashi. As I said, Captain Inoguchi had an accident and is no longer able to command the ship… so I had to take over at short notice." Teruzuki said, bowing lightly, which made Shichiro blink, then grin to the direction of his friend.  
"And here I was, thinking I was all alone in the pacific."

Musashi chuckled. "Far from it, Admiral. We were just on different ships- but fear not. This Musashi will no longer leave your side!"

"GAJIN!" Someone shouted, and quickly, Teruzuki ran to the superstructure to get back to the bridge. Men ran past Shichiro, to man the heavy AA guns, as the main turrets began to move their titanic mass with the groan of heavy engines, hydraulics lifting each huge barrel up into the sky.  
"What on earth are you doing, Admiral! Get down!" Musashi threw him to the ground, impacting on top of him with a much softer force than expected, thanks to her large cushion at the front- and to her hands breaking the fall. Seconds later, an earthquake rocked the ship, followed by another, and a third one in quick succession, each time a blast of heat and wind that was so strong it hurt his skin, along with a deafening explosion occurred. Buried under Musashi´s massive, armored body, the more lethal effects of the blast were spared to him. No sooner had the terror stopped, she got back up and pulled him to his feet by the collar, yanking him over to the superstructure.  
"Stupid… you could´ve gotten blown off the deck!" Musashi complained, once the door was shut behind them. "As soon as the guns start firing, get behind solid cover!"  
"I got it, I got it." Shichiro said, his heart still beating quite rapidly. "Jesus Christ in heaven that's a terrifying set of cannons." A soft grin was given to her way. "…And that's a compliment."  
Musashi rolled her eyes, which he could see thanks to the interior lighting. "Teruzuki is a fool, firing Sanshiki. The planes might not even know it's us, but those Sanshiki indicate a priority target. If we´d kept the anti-air guns silent we might´ve gone by undetected."

As if on cue, smaller rumbles went through the ship, along with dull booms- the large anti air guns, most likely.  
"True. Then again, I guess he´s bound to his honor to attack enemy aircraft under any means necessary…" Shichiro suspected, which harnessed a glare.  
"He´s jeopardizing 3.000 lives and the flagship of Japan, shooting down a few planes. He is a fool, by every definition, Admiral… if we want to win this scenario, you must find a way to relieve him of command." Musashi said, crossing her arms underneath her bust. "You need to get control of the ship… of me, to get us through this safely."  
Before he could answer, another three large booms occurred, rumbling through the ship and knocking him against the wall with a clang. "Gah!" Shichiro gave off, clenching his shoulder. "Damn Akashi... that actually hurt! Is this really just a simulation?!"

"I suppose Akashi wanted to keep it realistic." Musashi speculated, unmoving from her spot- she just nudged to the side a bit, each time the guns fired.

"This isn´t the fight that sunk you, is it…?" He asked, rubbing his shoulder as gunfire still drowned them out occasionally.  
"Admiral! Musashi does not sink from a few scout planes!" She huffed, glancing at him in a pout. "No, it isn´t. This skirmish should be over in a few moments… my last battle begins two days from now."  
Shichiro nodded. "Then I'll deprive Teruzuki from command as soon as the guns stop firing. After that, we´ll start thinking about our tactics- what we can do to prevent what's about to happen."  
Musashi´s glare ceased, and she looked a bit more neutral. "Do you think you can do it?"  
"It's not a matter if I can or not. I promised I won´t let you sink the day you entered my fleet- so, even in this simulation, I'm not going to let it happen." Shichiro returned with determination, making the warship avert her eyes with a hint of red cheeks.  
"No, not that. Depriving him of command, after he just got assigned… do you think it's that easy? I´m the flagship after all, there´s a lot of prestige to lose for him. You´re basically telling him he´s incompetent before he even got a chance to prove otherwise."  
Sighing, he shook his head. "No, but it´ll have to happen if we are to survive this."

The noise continued only for a few minutes more, dulled down, then ended- the fight was over with no victor. Heading back out onto the top of the superstructure, Shichiro and Musashi began to climb up the four flights of stairs and five catwalks to get to the bridge, where they were assuming Teruzuki to be.

"Jesus, my ears are still ringing. I guess I should be glad I can still hear things at all, but Christ almighty that was loud." Shichiro complained upon entering the armored area of the bridge.  
"You should be glad you´re alive at all. If you were any less of a man than you are, the pressure alone might´ve killed you." Musashi muttered in response, still slightly irritated. "Where's Captain Teruzuki?"  
"You´ve missed him by a few minutes; he went down to his quarters." The second in command told them, briefly stepping away from the binoculars. "It's getting past bedtime, and we may have to fight again tomorrow."  
"Right you are with that, but we still need to talk to him, as soon as possible." Shichiro told him with a stern glance. "Where can we find his room?" Secretly, he hoped it wasn´t somewhere below deck, because climbing those stairs all the way to the bridge was quite the workout.

"Just this way. I´ll escort you." Thankfully, it was only a deck below, and after leaving them there he quickly returned to his duties, giving them the necessary privacy. Shichiro knocked first, and then made himself known.  
"Captain? It's me. We need to talk… right now."  
Upon opening, he was greeted with the sight of the man sitting on his bed in the luxurious room- as luxurious as a warship would allow. Wood panels bolted onto the steel frame, parquet floors, a rather nice looking, comfortable bed, work desk and a few cupboards, as well as a small study. Teruzuki seemed tired, but not from exhaustion.  
"Admiral. I was wondering if you would come here… are you here to replace me? I know I wasn´t ready for a command of this size, especially in a situation such as this." He began, and Musashi closed the door behind them.  
"That was my intention… but first and foremost, I wanted to know what you were thinking, jeopardizing thousands of lives just to shoot down a few planes. If you had let them fly off, we might´ve gotten away undetected."  
"But that's wrong!" Teruzuki´s fist slammed down onto the drawer next to him. "Those Gajin deserve no mercy! Whenever you see one, shoot them! Whenever their name is mentioned, vow to kill them and hail the emperor! They could´ve been the first wave of an enemy attack, what was I supposed to do?!"  
"Don´t give me that crap. You have a responsibility. This is the flagship of the empire, not some destroyer!" Shichiro bellowed, balling his own fist as his eye twitched. "Do you have any idea what impact it has on the morale of the entire fleet if this ship sinks to some mere airplanes? Musashi is strong, very strong, but not invulnerable! You have to think before you engage the enemy, determine if it's worth it to even take the risk in the first place! We need every capital ship we can have in these desperate times!"  
"You don´t know what it's like! My family died in the firebombing..!"

Shichiro glared at him. "My parents, grandparents and my older brother have all been killed in wartime. Only my sister is left, and she´s crippled from shrapnel. You don´t see me shooting everything that moves."  
Musashi swallowed deeply, stiffening a bit at that. She had almost forgotten that- He was a man practically born into war, and living with war for more than half of his life. True, it was a different war, but the feelings of people remained the same. Part of her wanted to come closer and comfort him, but on the other hand he seemed like he was going to explode in rage.  
"I'll only say it once. Back down from command, Teruzuki. I´m taking over the Musashi." He threatened, his hand twitching to reach for the pistol underneath his shirt.  
"I understand. It has come to this, after all."  
Getting up, Teruzuki went over to a display with a Shin Guntò sword on it, grasping it in one hand- that was Shichiros cue to open the buttons of his shirt with a ripping motion and whip out the pistol, a vintage Hino Komura, out to point at him.  
"Don´t make a mistake, Teruzuki! Just back down!"  
"I have misused my command too many times, disappointed the emperor, and disgraced our navy. The only thing that I can do now is to preserve my honor, rather than to face a sentence."  
Drawing his sword, Shichiro cocked the pistol, but before he could fire, the sword´s razor sharp tip came out the back of the Captains torso.  
Musashi`s and Shichiros eyes widened, as Teruzuki tore the sword sideways, slit it a few inches to that direction, then tore it again to face downwards, at which point he cut all the way down past his navel- then his body gave out, and he collapsed in a sea of blood and guts that spilled from his open belly. The wretched smell of fresh blood and bodily juices filled the air, and shivering, Shichiro lowered the gun, taking a step back until he felt Musashi behind him…  
"Only a simulation… only… a simulation…" He repeated, while the girl yanked open the door and ran up to the bridge to fetch help.

The sailors worked fast. Just an hour later, the body was gone from the site, blood and guts were cleaned and the room smelled fresh- aside from the lack of the Shin Guntó, there was no evidence of the event that took place. Slowly, Shichiro sank down onto the bed he now owned until they would get to their destination, wherever it would be, and Musashi looked on.

"Do not feel troubled. You´ve did what you had to do. One man died so thousands may live." She tried to raise his spirits, though he huffed in dismay.  
"That's not the point, Musashi. Teruzuki would´ve died one way or the other, but… he didn´t have to do that. I wouldn´t have reported him or anything, he… felt off right from the time we entered."  
"That's true…" Musashi averted her eyes, looking aside to the desk. "But still. You´ve got nothing to blame yourself for- it's something he did to himself. You´re not at fault for his demise." She sighed, crossing her arms below her chest. "I´m bad at this."  
A soft chuckle came from him as a response. "No, no you aren´t. And the fact that you´re trying means a lot to me too. I appreciate it, Musashi." A sigh followed, and then he stood up straight, looking back at her. "Well. This is no time to be mourning people. We need to make plans on how to survive this situation, and fast. From what I can tell, this is the 23rd October 1944. In the coming hours, carrier aircraft from Intrepid will attack us, and tomorrow the rest of Task Group 38 catches up, bombing us to the bottom of the sea unless we change history."  
Musashi nodded. "What are you suggesting?"  
"Well… Intrepid is our first target, the ghost ship." Shichiro said, crossing his arms over. "Come dawn, we´ll need to run scout flights to find her as fast as possible. When we did, we´ll take aim and try our best to sink her before she can damage us… from what I remember, Intrepids bombs damaged the first turret and the engines, and we´ll need both to battle the rest of the carriers with."

"A sound logic, Admiral, but they know we're here. Would they really come in range of our cannons?" The battleship threw in, raising an eyebrow. "It sounds too simple."  
"No plan ever survives enemy contact, Musashi. And yes… we´ll have to change course to head to her direction. That means breaking off of the rest of Kurita´s fleet... for a while."  
"So we'll battle them alone?" The tanned girl began to grin, excited, ecstatic even. "I would be very fine with that."  
"This is your fight, not theirs. For the final battle we'll return to the fleet if possible so that the enemy carriers won´t flank us, but if we can´t- we'll have to try and sink them as well." Shichiro concluded, feeling weight in his words. It wouldn´t be a turning point in the war… but it would be a dent to the US war machine.

"Right. Then to be invigorated for today's battle, let us head to bed and try our best to find some sleep!" Musashi declared, definitely hyped, but Shichiro tilted his head at this response, staring at the bed.  
"Sleep? …We´re in a simulation, remember? Can we even sleep here? Our bodies are practically asleep anyways, aren´t they?"  
An awkward silence followed, as the two stared at the bed, just before Musashi shrugged and bent down, uncaring for the generous look into her cleavage she provided, and unlatched the metal clasps on her boots, slipping her feet out of them, and sitting down on the bed. "Rather than standing around here, let's just try!"  
"…." Shichiro stared at her, then at the bed. "…You want me to sleep with you?"  
"Yes. You´ve earned this right by giving me this opportunity to redeem myself." Musashi smirked, before it faltered, and fell into a grimace. "…Oh. Oh that's what you´re talking about."  
"Yeah. That."  
"No. Just sleeping. …T-that… that can w-wait." Musashi had turned her head around at that point, lightly pink, before she took off her glasses, setting them aside, and closing the lids of her rangefinders. "…What are you waiting for, Admiral?"  
Before he could say another word, her hand shot out to grab his wrist, and she pulled him down with the same force a truck tied to him would have. He landed softly, half on the bed, half on her, his chin buried in her chest, as he looked up to her.  
"I would´ve followed, you know. I was just stunned you offered this to… begin with…"  
Rather than the incredible softness of what bedded his face, he was mesmerized by her appearance. "Wow… you´re really pretty without your glasses on."

"Really?" Musashi raised an eyebrow, before reaching to the back of her head, undoing a few bolts, and taking the rangefinders off as well- making her hair flop down somewhat. "How about this?"  
"…Now you're just plain handsome. Which isn´t a bad thing." He chuckled, slowly reaching up to fondle the previously erect hair tufts.

"Tsk. Flattery won´t get you anywhere…" Musashi muttered, whilst yet averting her eyes. "Weren´t we going to sleep? Stop fooling around, Admiral."  
"Right, right. Sorry." Reaching over, he flicked off the lights by pulling on a cord, and simply remained where he was….

"…You're heavy." It came from Musashi, as he was still lying on top of her. Interestingly, her red eyes were vaguely visible.  
"You pulled me on top." He snickered, quite comfortable in his position of being halfway on her breasts, partially on her quite toned belly, and yet partially on the other half of the bed. "Besides, you´re the best pillow ever."  
"… Then at least get off of my stomach." She pushed him off with a grunt, and with a snickering tone he turned over to take his own pillow.  
"Right, sorry. …I have to say though, I don't feel the least bit tired."  
A quiet noise, like fabric moving, followed, and Musashi didn´t respond. Then out of nowhere, she took hold of his shoulder and pulled him back in closer, bringing his face back to her chest.  
….Her naked chest, as he would find out.  
"Wha-"he began, but he couldn´t formulate a sentence.  
"…Maybe this will help you." She said, with some minor embarrassment in her voice. As if to prevent him from getting away, her hand remained on his shoulder like a light embrace.  
"Uhm… I don't think it will… but I like that." Several moments passed, as they got more natural, and familiar with one another, diminishing their shame.

"No one else would be willing to do this for me. The other girls sank too… and they think they have it bad. They don´t want to experience sinking ever again… so… I really appreciate what you´re doing for me, Admiral." Musashi began, her steady breaths lightly tickling his hair. "Reliving my past isn´t easy… I wouldn´t be able to do it alone."  
"It's an honor for me, Musashi, you know that. It's a once in a lifetime experience to be here, to command a warship like you. I have to thank you to allow me to… get as intimate as this is. We´re practically walking around inside you, and-"  
"You said intimate, talking about my ship form, while your face is being comforted by my breasts." Musashi pointed out, a chuckle following suit. "You´re quite something."

"Perhaps the circumstances changed my wording a bit, yes… but you really feel good. You smell nice, too... Ow!"  
Her finger flicked against his forehead, and she huffed. "None of that now. Not until we have archived victory." A warm smile came up on her face, and she pulled him closer. "… if you manage this, I promise… I'll be yours."

He fell silent for a few moments, then his right arm wrapped around her waist, returning the embrace. "It's a good thing I haven´t used that ring yet."  
With that they fell into a comfortable silence, for minutes, then an hour, then…

"…This isn´t working."

"No, it really isn´t." Musashi sighed, pushing him off and re-fastening her sarashi. "Let's see if they have a chessboard or something in those drawers."

After several games of Go, some rounds of rock-paper-scissors and even a pillow fight, Shichiros first command was issued and carried out- change bearing to 29° to port. A diagonal pattern inbetween Kuritas fleet and where the scouts had come from.

"We know there´s at least one enemy carrier out there, likely more- those scouts were not meant to go very far, and we´re nowhere near land." Shichiro explained the officers present on the combat bridge. "Enemy carriers are a lethal danger to the fleet, so we´ll intercept and destroy them before they have a chance to strike."  
Crossing his arms, he looked ahead, watching the mighty bow of the warship splash down into the waves, sprays of water gushing over the five dozen men scrubbing the decks at this early morning. "Come daybreak, I want every available scout plane in the air- we absolutely require to find the carrier before it finds us or the fleet… that battle yesterday made them aware that there is –something-… but they don't know what just yet. That's our advantage in this…. We can surprise them with our firepower. Once one of the scouts has found the carrier we´ll head there at full speed, to get into firing range- as soon as possible, we´ll begin firing our main battery at it. Each turret must be loaded with a mixture of two HE shells and one AP shell. For the entire operation, all armored anti-air mounts are to be manned. Understood?"  
"Yes Sir!" The bridge crew responded stiffly, saluting their yet unknown commander. Following orders, not matter how unorthodox or downright insane they might be.  
"Good. Keep me informed." Shichiro nodded to them, before heading off the bridge again… Musashi was down at the main deck, so that's what his next destination was. Seven floors further down, he opened the heavy steel door leading to the main deck, stained dark gray- almost black, even. Soot from the smokestack camouflaged it against enemy aircraft, in theory… in practice, this was only helpful at night. "Ahh… what a morn-"His words were cut short by a splash of water in the face, as the rough seas crashed against the broadside of the ship. Hearty laughter was followed by several sailors, and that included the shipgirl as well, Musashi strutting over to him and giving him a light slap on the back, while he worked on getting the salt water out of his face.  
"Bad luck. The sea isn´t very friendly today." She chuckled, smiling at him as another breaker hit their broadside, this time only splashing half as far. Half the ship was covered in sailors doing excersizes- Judo, Kendo and other martial arts. Some ran marathons along the length of the ship, others were maintaining and polishing guns to make them combat ready. Down at the bow, the plugs had been removed from the main armament, and a few sailors were running giant ramrods down the length of the barrels, five men at a time.  
"Yeah, I noticed." Shichiro returned, blinking the last bits of water away. "What are you doing down here?"  
"Putting an idea I've gotten last night into practice." Musashi told him, pointing over to a single 25mm gun that was mounted on a pedestal, currently surrounded by about five people working on it. "We´ll have quite the problem avoiding any torpedoes that the enemy manages to drop, so I was thinking about shooting them down while they head our way. They might not be good anti air guns, but those Type 96 cannons offer a lot of firepower…"  
Shichiro stared at the girl with doubt, his arms crossing. "Musashi, that thing weighs nearly a ton. Probably more when it's loaded, are you sure you can-"  
"I don't know, but I'll find out shortly." She cut him off there, as she looked back over to the sailors working on the gun. "Either way… the sea is still rough, so if you want to dry off… I suggest we head up to the rear conning tower… the spotting crew won´t man it for another hour."

"Might as well. We should have a good look at the spotting planes starting there." Shichiro mentioned, as he saw the crane on the very stern of the ship moving over, a floatplane on its hook, carefully positioning it on the rails of left aircraft catapult.  
While Shichiro expected a steep climb across various staircases, the trip to the top of the conning tower wasn´t nearly as bad… for once they were inside the rear superstructure, Musashi let him straight to a primitive elevator, without doors, constantly moving up and down at the same time, just large enough for two people at the same time. A device otherwise known as a paternoster.  
"What the hell. Nobody told me we had elevators." He grumbled, feeling stupid for using the stairs prior to this, now.  
"Ah, don't be so grumpy. It's not like you´re breaking much of a sweat in a simulation." She returned, though her glance was directed to the ceiling, rapidly coming closer… lacking other options, she brought her hands to her chest and pushed it down, flattening it a bit- just enough so that the elevator could clear the gap between the decks. Upon seeing this, the man next to her couldn´t hold in his laughter.  
"A few burgers too many, Musa- Ow!" Her elbow rammed into his side, nearly flinging him out of the elevator on the floor above.  
"These were built for men. Not for a well-shaped warship." She huffed, keeping her hands where they were as they ascended further- only getting off on the highest stop.  
Outside there was a platform, connecting the elevator to four armored 25mm triple mount positions, shielded from the blast of the massive main guns and usable in any situation… though their target was not them, but the spotting platform one level above, just on top of the rear main gun director. They could´ve gotten even higher up but then the ashes coming from the smokestack might catch up to them, so they settled for a medium height.

Up there the sea was just as rough as down on the main deck, heavy gusts of wind crashing against the ship occasionally… it was chilly, though Musashi didn´t seem bothered by it. Rather than that, her eyes lit up like stars when she found a box of Ramune bottles nearby.  
"Oh! I´ve completely forgotten they serve those here!" Taking out a bottle, it was… empty, much to her disappointment, and after checking the rest of the box, she only found one that was still sealed and full. "…Hm. Better than nothing."  
"They probably used those up during spotting duty yesterday night." Shichiro speculated, pulling up two primitive folding chairs the sailors made themselves, unfolding them and setting them down just before the armored metal serving as a reeling.

Below them was quite the sight- the massive 15,5cm triple turret was directly ahead, below that, dwarfing it quite extremely was the behemoth itself, the rear 46cm triple turret. A dozen people worked on the flight deck, prepping planes for launch, two already standing on the flight deck, with two more on the catapults- the crane was working on getting the fifth out. Beyond that spectacle was the sea, stirred up in white foam from the four giant propellers driving the ship forwards.

A pop, then a hiss came from the bottle, the shipgirl sitting down next to him with a soft smile on her face… then she drank some of it, and her eyes widened quickly.  
"Wh-wha….? It even tastes like it should! Akashi is a genius…!" Turning to her Admiral, she offered Shichiro some of it too. He blinked, then gave her a grin.  
"Oh my, Musashi! Are you giving me an indirect kiss?" He snickered, making her groan in return.  
Her response came in kind. "What are you, twelve? This Musashi is a bit too old to care much about indirect kisses."  
"A direct one, then?" He teased, a grin forming on his face as that strike hit home and drove a light pink color on the cheeks of the tanned girl, who averted her glance and simply pushed the bottle into his hand.  
"Just drink, and tell me I'm right." Meanwhile down below, black smoke came from the exhausts of the recon plane, as the motor sputtered to life- unsteady at first, but gradually warming up, the motor noise becoming regular.  
"Attention flight deck! Recon one, launching!" The conductor shouted, just as the left catapult swung out to the side, and with a loud hiss the steam pressure flung the plane overboard, the motor roaring loudly to bring it up to speed… it took a few moments, but then it vanished from sight, climbing higher as the catapult returned to its previous position, the engine of the plane that was sitting on the right catapult was started the same way. The crane, meanwhile, already pulled out the next from the armored hangar below the flight deck.

"You´re right. Tastes like Yamato´s Ramune… only with the sweet taste of Musashi´s mouth on it." He chuckled, receiving a nudge in the side from the warship like a faux punch. "Look at that spectacle down there… like clockwork. One after another."  
"Yes." Musashi agreed, somewhat in a daze as she watched her crew do their duty. "Everything here is so reminiscent of how things used to be. People working their hardest to ensure our victory, blissfully unaware of how hopeless the situation is, already. Part of me wants to shake them, and tell them to run away while they can, that the war cannot be won… but this isn´t real. It's a video pulled in front of our eyes… nothing we do here has any real influence on what happened."  
"Musashi..." He began, softly, before he was interrupted by the roaring plane engine as it took off. "If you hadn´t sunk- if things hadn´t happened the way they did, we would never have met. If the empire had won somehow, the world would not be a nice place to live… the deaths of these soldiers aren´t your fault. You did your best, did better than anyone expected of you. What killed these men were the short-sighted, power hungry people that began the pacific war to begin with. The same people who ordered my ancestor to attack Pearl Harbor."  
Trembling a little bit, Musashi´s head was leaned down, but slowly she nodded. "…Yes. You´re right, i… I shouldn´t blame myself. I´ve done what I could to save those men- they were marked to die right from the very beginning." With her shaky voice, lacking the usual power and determination, one wouldn´t think it was the same girl. He wanted to say more, though a sudden, loud honking noise made him jump. "Wh-wha?!"  
Musashi looked up, hearing the elongated honk, and smiled to him. "They´re releasing pressure from the boilers… we´re cruising at full speed, there´s a lot of stress on the engines. As much as I hate to admit it, steam engines are very inefficient. Most of my power never reaches the water."  
"God, they could shout a warning or something…!" Shichiro complained, before slowly sitting down again, the fourth plane starting up by now. Taking another drag from the bottle, he handed it back to Musashi, releasing a sigh. "…It's not going to be calm like this much longer."  
"No, it won't. As soon as the recon pilots report the position of the enemy carrier, hell will break loose." The shipgirl predicted, emptying the bottle, then she slipped it back into the box she got it from… then she stood up, and reached her hand out to him. "Come on. Let's make sure we make a difference here, Admiral."  
He smiled, grasping it and getting up as well- only to be pulled up further than expected. His lips met hers in a gentle, if shy kiss that made his breathing stop for more than just a moment.  
His hands found their way to her waist, fingers gripping into the sarashi binds for support- then he found the strength to return the kiss just a bit, just enough before she pulled back from him.  
"There´s your indirect kiss. We kissed, and yet we didn't, because it's only a simulation." Musashi grinned, leaving the speechless Shichiro behind as she headed back to the elevator.  
Following shortly after, he still touched his lips with his fingers. Indirect or not, it felt so real… how did Akashi program this?  
Worse yet, rather than using her own hands, Musashi took Shichiros wrists with a smirk and pressed his hands against her breasts to flatten them down for the elevator gap. He swallowed, hard, and sent out a silent prayer to divinity that Akashi wasn´t watching all of this on a monitor somewhere…

By the time they were back on the main deck, the sixth and final floatplane had launched, and the right catapult moved back into idle position. The game was on.

"Admiral, what are you planning to do?" The helmsman asked, whom was keeping the course intact while everyone waited for the radio operator to tell them what the scout planes would say.  
"There´s a carrier out here... he´s seen something, but he doesn´t know what it is. They won´t be going at full-throttle, but searching for clues… no doubt we´ll see scouts of their own soon. But we´ve launched early, and will find them sooner that way. When we do, we´ve got the advantage. They don't know that the most powerful warship ever built is stalking them." Shichiro responded, his hands folded behind his back while he stared at the sea chart placed down in the wheelhouse. No land around for miles… when that carrier would sink, its planes would fight to the death. They had to sink it before it could launch its air-wing.  
"But carriers never travel alone, are you sure we can…?" The helmsman began, before the first mate bopped him on the head.  
"Fool! Do not underestimate Musashis capability! Air force is the only thing we have to fear- our cannons make short work of anything else!" He exclaimed, harnessing booming cheer from the rest, as if on cue. Shichiro remained quiet.  
"Are the main guns loaded, gunnery chief?" Shichiro asked, leaning over and grasping the radio that was connected with the main battery plotting room.

"Locked and loaded, Sir! Two high explosive shells, one armor piercing, just like you instructed!"  
"Good. The mixture will be their downfall… the shells destroy the deck, and then they flood the hull with the internal explosion of the AP. Now we just need our target." Shichiro muttered, looking over to the radio operator.  
"…Admiral, Recon Five reports a Gajin vessel with flat deck and airplanes on board, Bearing 3° east, range 30!" He reported suddenly, looking up to him. "It's a big one, escorted by two destroyers and a cruiser!"  
Shichiro´s hands came undone, and he turned to the radio handset, grasping it. "Gunnery chief! 3° east, distance 30 kilometers! Fire when ready!"  
The confirmation came, and below, heavy motor sounds filled the area as the two main guns in front turned slowly to face their enemy at sea. Hydraulic hisses lifted the barrels up at an angle, then fireballs the length of a destroyer were blasted out of their muzzles, one after another as an earthquake shook the ship to its core. The sound pressure alone was enough to make Shichiro want to throw up, but it was soon over, the barrels still puffing smoke. At that point, he got out of the crouch he had taken up to keep himself from being hit by flying debris from the pressure, and once more he grasped the radio. "Gunnery chief- reload! Same ammunition as before, fire when ready!"

"Aye sir!" It came from the chief, followed by "Adjusting trajectory- done!"  
The turrets turned a tiny bit ahead, to make up for the distance they traveled- then, thirty seconds after the first, there was a second nine-gun salvo of destruction, followed by silence and a whistle in the Admirals ears. As he got back up, he bit his lip and issued the order again. "Reload! High explosive shells!" He bellowed into the horn, getting into an adrenaline rush from the power of his words- a single word moved tons of explosive into lethal forces, explosions the size of erupting volcanoes, nine at once.  
The Radio operator cried out in joy shortly after. "Banzai! Admiral! Recon two reports four direct hits on the enemy carrier- including a high explosive shell that struck the superstructure and blew it to pieces! It's going to sink!"  
Booming cheers filled the bridge, and Shichiro let out a sigh of relief, but with it, he turned to face the operator directly. "What's the condition of the planes? How many did it launch before the shells struck?"

"It launched three bombers and four fighters before our shells hit- the recon teams are struggling to evade them. The bombers… have been shot down, but so have two of our recon flights. Five more planes have started since, though most of the others seem to be destroyed or already on fire."  
"We had to expect as much." The first mate responded, huffing in dismay. "A risky tactic is never without casualties. What's next, Admiral?"  
"Prepare all gunports for surface battle. Those destroyers and that cruiser will be onto us now… we should give them a warm welcome. I'll head down and see if Musashi´s torpedo countermeasure is operational. Keep the main guns loaded, we might need them… and tell the shielded 25mm guns to watch out for planes. Have them load only the middle guns, we need absolute pinpoint accuracy."  
Salutes followed, and Shichiro ran out of the bridge, fueled by adrenaline, hopping into the elevator and down, back down to the main deck… before realizing one thing. "Oh… I guess I should`ve warned her about firing the main battery..."

The answer followed in a slap across his face, hard enough to knock him against the wall. "Gah!"  
"Yes. Yes you could´ve." Musashi grumbled, dripping wet from head to toe, and quite pissed. "Be very thankful that shipgirls float… and that I'm armored well enough to survive impacts on the water. I was flung off the deck by the blast pressure."

"I'm sorry... ow." Shichiro apologized, rubbing his red cheek. "…you look fantastic when you´re wet, tho-ooogh!"  
In the glimpse of an eye, she had grabbed him by the legs held him up over the reeling head first, gritting her teeth. "Don't say another word, Admiral. Don't say another word. Even in a simulation- that hurt."  
Shichiros hat fell off, and the blood rushed into his head as gravity was reversed for him... not a good feeling he decided. "I´m sorry, Musashi! I´m sorry! Forgive me!"  
"Tch. You´re lucky I still need you to save me." Musashi huffed, and pulled him back up- only for the both of them to widen their eyes and drop their jaws, both at the same time.  
"Get down!" Shichiro shouted, tackling Musashi as soon as he had the planks back under his feet and pushing her over onto said planks- the large caliber AA guns began firing, while 20mm shells peppered the deck and the armored structures. The Hellcats had arrived, roaring engines flying overhead as Shichiro covered Musashi with his body, a short circuit reaction of his that was soon corrected, as Musashi pulled him over to a corner and shielded him instead.  
"You fool, you´re not the armored one here!" She scolded him halfheartedly, clenching her eyes shut as explosive projectiles peppered the area. "Is it really just ten of them? Sounds like more!"  
It wasn´t hard to see that she was trembling in fear. They were getting closer and closer to her sinking moments, and it was starting to show. Her hands clenched into the welds of the steel wall, flinching everytime shrapnel spread across the deck.  
"Musashi. Musashi...!"  
Shichiro´s voice, paired with his hand grasping her collar, made her eyes snap back open. He looked up to her.  
"I´m here now. We´re going to defeat them, together... there´s nothing to be afraid of. I´ve never lost a ship on duty before... and I'm not going to change that now!"

"Admiral..." She began, though she flinched again as a spread of 20mm munitions hit close to home, singing the metal she was holding onto. "...We need to get inside, it's not safe here. We could get shot down and killed before we even know it."  
"Right." Nodding, Shichiro crawled across the deck to the nearest entrance hatch, keeping a low profile to avoid the enemy fire, Musashi close in tow. They almost made it there, as a Hellcat was hit close by, its left wing tearing off from the detonation of a shell- in desperation, the pilot made a dive for the ship to hit it with his broken plane like a Kamikaze pilot, though the airplane expended itself against the belt armor, a powerful explosion pressing Musashi and her Admiral against the metal behind their backs, sharp metal shrapnel flying across the deck and lacerating them all over. The 20mm gun of the broken wing speared itself into the wall, sticking out of it and threatening to bury Musashi under its weight, but Shichiro was faster in opening the door and dragging her inside. The heavy locks clicked into place, and the air battle was left outside for their simulation men to fight out.  
"Gah... j-jesus." Shichiro cringed, pulling a piece of metal wire out of his arm, while Musashi mended her damaged sarashi to make sure it stayed together. "Don´t you think Akashi overdid it with the realism a bit? I really don't wanna find out what it's like to get shot here!"  
"Or what it's like to be killed." Musashi added with a nod, adjusting her glasses. "Admiral... are you really sure that you want to continue? We could ask Akashi to leave..."  
He reached out to grab hold of her arm, looking closely into her eyes- with the other hand holding his wound. "Musashi. I didn´t come here to try and then go home. I came here to win, for you. If we leave things half-finished then all of this will have been for nothing. "He twitched briefly as another explosion occurred, vibrating through the hallway, but he shook off his concern and continued to gaze at her. "I´m here for you. If you want to leave, then so be it... but we´ll win if we stay. I promise."  
"...Don´t make a girl a promise if you know you can´t keep it." Musashi muttered, her own right hand slowly reaching forward to touch his waist, a faint bitterness present on her face as if she was about to cry, but held it in no matter what. Turning away, she got into a sprint, easily leaving him behind.

"Musashi, wait… where are you going?" Shichiro asked, rushing after her, trying to catch up.

"That airplane noise- it's gone!" She said, nothing more but that- everything else was cut off at that point, as a piece of metal sheared its way through the steel wall of the superstructure, followed by another close by- they detonated in the opposing wall, the shockwave sending Shichiro falling back on his rear, while Musashi was slammed against the floor. Small shrapnel cut up his arms, though he seemed to have more luck than he deserved, as none had pierced his skin below them…. What was a more pressing matter was the fire that had started, burning gunpowder and everything flammable in the area starting to smolder. "Agh… Musashi! Fire extinguishers!"

"Nnn… Don´t bother. A fire that small…" The shipgirl threw back, stomping on the fire as she reached over to grab his hand, but he got up on his own, merely clenching some lacerations across his arms. "Are you alright?"

"More or less. What the hell was that? That was a lot bigger than an aircraft shell…" He looked out the impact hole, but couldn´t see a thing other than the smoke coming from the guns that fired, and a brief glance of the sea.  
"I´m not sure. Ships, maybe?" Musashi shrugged, before taking his arm with one hand. "Come… let us head up on top of the superstructure and see what things are like outside."

"I guess. You can check for your airplanes that way." With a nod, he followed along, being led by her hand like they were frolicking around in a field…. If only. This simulation was turning out quite painful, as the bleeding cuts on his arms were telling him.  
Just one level further up, they got out into the open- the metallic floor of the superstructure turned into a heavy checker plate floor… directly ahead were the two middle 25mm triple turrets, four of which were standing in for the three 12,7cm AA guns that Yamato had in this position. A lack of heavy guns forced the refit to settle for this… but they were unmanned right now anyway, it wasn´t safe to operate them while the guns were firing, and the two of them didn´t plan to head out that far. They sticked close to the wall, and held onto one another´s side as the medium battery commenced firing… thunderous booms from the 15,5cm turrets, followed by a faster salvo from the 12,7cm directly above them.  
"Their elevation is all the way down…" Shichiro noted, looking up at the gun. "…Are they firing at a ship somewhere?"  
"Shichiro! There!" Musashi pinched his arm, yanking him over to look at the faint white trail of a destroyer- which then went up in a puff of smoke, and fireworks as the next salvo of the 15,5cm ahead of them scored a direct hit.  
"There really ARE ships out there…!" He said, before noticing a ship that came close rather rapidly. He couldn´t say a word, but Musashi understood him without it. She was caught in mid-motion, as she was going to hit the deck to avoid the enemy fire… only it was far too late by the time she had reacted to it. Boom. Boom. One hole was torn open in the superstructure next to them, the other... sparked off of Musashi, knocking her back into Shichiro and smacking them both against the steel behind him.

"Argh!" Was the sound that escaped his throat, the combined force of a two-meter woman and the muzzle energy of a 5-inch AAC projectile, which had lodged its way into the sheet metal shield of the fire director next to them. It didn´t go off, instead it just loomed there, ticking like a car engine shortly after stopping.

"Tch…" Musashi gave off, as both she and Shichiro looked at what the impact had done. The skin as ripped off, as was a big chunk of her sarashi, and below there was a good look at the onyx-colored, heavily armored muscles that made up her belly, yellowish softer tissue inbetween them- though this sight was not seen for long, as her skin began to regenerate right away, and sealed the hole in only a few seconds. "Things like that... aren´t going to sink Musashi."  
Smiling back at her, Shichiro touched her freshly exposed skin, patting her toned abs lightly, before nodding slowly. "We need to get back inside before they hit us harder... the conning tower. We should have a good look at what kind of enemy's we´re facing in the conning tower..!"

Musashi nodded back to him, briefly touching his hand as well, before taking the loose ends of her sarashi and tying them further up, turning the bandage that formerly covered her whole chest into some sort of makeshift bikini top. "Right. I´ll lead you on... follow me."

Running halfway across the ship, and ignoring the elevator Musashi ran up the stairs to the forward conning tower, pushing one of the spotters away to look outside. "There, I see them…! Shichiro, there´s more than just that single one… this isn´t part of the simulation, is it?"  
Before the Admiral could answer, as he was lagging behind a bit, the spotter who was deprived of his place did instead. "Gajin ships appeared just now- likely the carriers escorts!"  
"How many, what class?" Shichiro asked, leaning against the thick armored walls to catch his breath, before reaching to the shipwide radio transmitter.  
"Four destroyers, Fletcher class! One cruiser, Cleveland class!" Another spotter answered, not moving away from his position. Good enough.

"Conning tower to main bridge, this is Admiral Yamamoto! What's the situation?" He barked into the receiver, still leaning against the wall, but nervously playing with the cord as he stared outside.  
"We got things under control, Admiral…! You should come back up and see the spectacle; this is what Musashi was built for!" The first mate answered, audibly pleased. "The confines of the conning tower aren´t for the likes of an Admiral anyway!"  
"No, but it was safer than running around on deck. Alright, I'll head up."

"I´m coming too, of course!" Musashi said, following close behind Shichiro as they made their way up to the bridge, only a rock throw away from the conning tower- but then, they were smacked hard against the wall, nearly falling down the stairs as a thundering boom and an earthquake rumbled through the ship, stronger than the main guns.  
"What the fuck was that?!" Shichiro asked, looking about, while Musashi shivered visibly. She held onto his arm, tightly.  
"..That was a torpedo impact. Keep moving." She said, swallowing, as the familiar boom of a main battery blast rocked through the metal confines of the stairway. Now, he shuddered too.  
Back on the bridge, Shichiro glanced at his first mate, ignoring the looks he got for his less than formal state of dress. "Report!"  
"A Fletcher-class destroyer managed to get a single torpedo off before we destroyed it, Admiral. We could no longer avoid it." He said in response, straightening in presence of him. "It struck our torpedo bulge amidships starboard- there´s no danger of flooding, though repairs will have to wait until the battle is over."  
Another boom, and a cascade of explosions occurred outside, debris being flung all over the sea- the rest of the bridge crew cheered.  
"Direct hit! The Cleveland has exploded!" Someone Shichiro didn´t recognize said, probably someone responsible for the guns. "The explosion caused the fourth Fletcher to capsize, they´re sinking!"  
"Banzai~!" The whole crew said, while Shichiro´s only reaction was a slow, deep sigh of relief. Wiping some blood off of his arm, he nodded, raising a hand.

"Good work everyone." He began, praising them. "The gun crews are dismissed for now. Maintain the main guns and tell the remaining scout planes to fuel up and fly- before dusk, we need to find the rest of this task group."  
The cheering was slowly decreasing, and Officers looked at him with a bit of doubt, though some slowly nodded and got to work. It seemed like they knew that this may end up being their deaths, but orders were orders.  
"Sir, we´ve got four scouts remaining- but should we lose them, our main guns will be critically handicapped…!" The first mate said, swallowing dryly with a visible tremble in his hands. "Are you sure it's worth the risk?"  
"I am. If we find them before dusk, we can get there during the night when they can´t find us. Then in the morning hours, we´ll give them a warm surprise." Shichiro nodded, crossing his arms over. "Tell the crew to report to the main deck for a briefing at 1800. I´ll prepare them for what´s to come with a speech. For now, the bridge is yours- I'll need to freshen up."  
"Aye Sir." The first mate nodded, before turning around to get to his duties.  
Musashi raised an eyebrow at him, her arms tightly crossed, but she said nothing… she simply followed him down to their quarters…

"Why did you change plans halfway there? That torpedo is a mere scratch, not a cause for concern." Musashi said, despite getting scared about it earlier as they headed down the stairway.  
"Because I did the math. I realized that if we don't surprise them with a barrage of firepower, our plan won't work… and we´ll be facing ten, maybe fifteen ships at once. That won't be much of a surprise. Instead, we´ll use the night to our advantage and spearhead straight into their formation, firing at everything in our reach until at least the fleet carriers are disabled. We´re facing four Essex-class carriers, Musashi, conventional tactics are-"  
Shichiro stopped, as suddenly, the ground below them vanished and the entire ship began to wobble- the sea disappeared, the sky turned a purple color, details became gray, gravity seemed to lower itself to the point where they hit the lower deck at a crawling pace…. This continued for nearly half a minute, getting more and more seizure inducing, a headache forming for both of them, until finally things normalized and returned to the way they used to be.  
"…What the hell was that..?!" Both of them said at once, on their fours from the nauseating experience… as a crewman approached them in a hurry.

"Admiral Yamamoto! Miss Musashi! The Administrator needs to speak to you as soon as possible- in your cabin!" He said, helping them up.  
"Administrator…?" Shichiro asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who´s that?"  
He received no answer, instead, the crewman pointed up. "It's really important- hurry up!"  
"I suppose we´ll find out soon." Musashi responded, holding her pounding forehead while putting her glasses back on. "Come on. We were headed there anyways."

Once they arrived in their quarters, this time without the stairs disappearing under their feet, Musashi and Shichiro were treated to an unusual sight. Akashi was sitting on their bed, impatiently kicking her feet and standing up straight as soon as they entered- but she was partially translucent, as if she wasn´t really there.  
"Finally, there you are!" She said, getting up as soon as they were there. "Something terrible happened just now. You two… I'm sorry to have put you into this situation, but you´re both in grave danger!"

"We noticed something weird going on just now. Like the whole world being on the verge of collapse for a moment…" Shichiro began, but Akashi nodded strongly and interrupted him right away.  
"We´ve been hacked, Boss. Somebody inserted an illegal code into the simulation, and it changed a few things-dramatically. "  
"Such as?" Musashi asked, crossing her arms as she was still curious about how this supposedly harmless simulation could cause them to be endangered.  
"First of, the return protocol was deleted." Akashi said with a grim expression. "Meaning you can´t leave until the simulation ends… that was about to be deleted as well when I noticed it and gave the simulation a firewall enforcement, which probably caused that thing you witnessed earlier."  
Shichiro didn´t like where this was going, but clenched his teeth and gave her a gesture. "Go on."  
"Second of all… originally when you would die here, you were going to be woken from this by a jolt of 0,02 milliamps of electrical power to your brain… or in Musashis case, 0,4 milliamps to her central processor, to simulate the shock of death without actually dying. Sort of like waking from a nightmare all of the sudden. Whoever did this increased the voltage to two whole amps each, far, far above the lethal limit." Akashi reported, cringing a bit. "I'm afraid I can´t undo this, the code has been scrambled and write-protected by an unknown user. In addition to this, as if this wasn´t enough yet, they edited one of the vessels of the simulation, and got remote access… like what I'm using now."  
"Who was it then?" Musashi asked, trying her hardest not to look frightened, while her fingers curled, clenching tightly around her arms.  
"It was me, of course." It came from behind them, where on one of the chairs near the desk sat a figure in black. A black shirt, black pencil skirt, black pantyhose, black gloves and black hat, finished with black boots with heels made of Abyssal metal. The long black mane tied into a ponytail, piercing red eyes, and deathly pale skin finished the look, as she gave them a fangy grin.  
"Nimitz..!" Shichiro said as he turned on his heel, drawing the pistol holstered underneath his shoulder in the blink of an eye, cocking it…. But to his surprise, nothing happened but a click.  
"Oh, did she forget to mention? I also deleted the ammunition from your gun. Just in case, you know, that you could somehow harm me with them." Nimitz chuckled, though in a frown- she drew her gun, pointing it at him and yet it didn´t fire. "Sadly, I can´t kill you without getting fully into this dreadful simulation myself… so I will have to do it in another way." The pistol sank back into its holster, and she folded her hands. "Do not worry; your warship is still loaded with live grenades. I want to see you struggle before you die, Yamamoto."  
At this, Musashi grabbed a chair nearby, throwing it at her without hesitation- but aside from some distortion of her image, nothing happened. The chair was smashed against the wall without avail.  
"Fool. She just told you, no? I´m not really here… I just came here to tell you what I'd do to you." Nimitz smirked, changing the legs that she crossed. "Do continue with your simulation of war. Try to survive inevitable death. Should you survive the carrier task group… I have something planned for you. Perhaps I will join you in person there… to see your last moments, Yamamoto."  
"Do it, and I'll kill you with this ship, Nimitz." Shichiro growled, glaring back at her. "You wouldn´t dare entering your own death trap."  
"Of course, I wouldn´t do it without a little bit more tinkering with this code, Yamamoto~ I´m no fool, unlike you two. I won´t set myself up. No, only you t-"  
She stopped, and disappeared, whereas Akashi's holographic form reappeared after a few seconds of absence… only then did Shichiro lower his gun, and only then did he realize that it wouldn´t have done him any good even if he had thrown it.  
"There we go. I cut the internet connection… permanently." She grunted, wiping sweat off of her forehead. "Either way, this is serious, Boss. She… she´ll kill you here if I don't do something."

Akashi´s head sunk, and her hands folded. "I wasn´t completely honest to you…. For a good reason. This scenario is meant to be a treatment, not a fantasy. Sure, it's possible to win, but the odds are stacked against you, as with reality. It's meant to make the shipgirl realize that the truth, the reality cannot be changed- that they have to live with it, but that they did their best."  
"It's not like we didn´t know that, Akashi." Shichiro retorted, crossing his arms over as well. "We were well aware this was not going to be an easy fix, not by a long shot. And unless she changed our enemies to be supercarriers- then we´re still able to finish our mission and go home unscathed. It's not like this is a Kobayashi Maru- it's not an unwinnable scenario that kills us either way we try. We have to be smart, fast, and lucky… but we can win."  
"Maybe." Akashi said, nodding. "I´m just… I feel responsible for your deaths, right now, even though you´re still here, y´know? It's a terrible feeling, being here and not being able to do anything. I could hook myself up into the simulation but it won´t change anything- at best, it would kill me too."

"If you feel bad, then help us win this!" Musashi insisted, balling her fist and stepping forward in determination. "You can give us the winning edge in the battle to come, Akashi! Do something! Anything that will help!"  
The repair ship went silent, staring down... a few moments later, she looked back up, and nodded. "Alright, come over here, y´two. I got something that´ll help."

Obediently, they did as they were told, and Akashi's holographic form held out her hand to them, with a pair of what appeared to be earbuds.  
"What are those..?" Shichiro asked, picking one up, then putting it in- after Musashi did as well, Akashi disappeared again. "Wha…?!"  
"It's stressful for me and for the server to emulate my presence the whole time. This is easier. It's a headset, connecting me directly through to you... so if you got a question or you see anything weird, lemme know and I'll see what I can do."

"Alright... uh, are you hearing what we hear? Do you see us?" He continued, looking about as if trying to give her a visual, but the rejection came quickly.  
"No, that would take far too much CPU performance. It's a radio, that's all... and if I were you, I'd take it out before you start badmouthing me, because I'm not gonna leave my post until you guys are back out, safe and alive." The repair ship returned, lightly grumpy. "Okay, seems like the headset works. Lemme program bullets back into your gun real quick- just in case you need them. That bit of code wasn´t protected... but I can´t undo anything regarding that ship she edited. That´ll be a complication..."  
Musashi sat down on the bed, crossing her legs over as she leaned back. "What kind of ship?"  
"I'm still trying to analyze that. The name is a scrambled mess, only two letters are even readable. R and E, essentially, but the rest of the word-"  
"Re-class." Shichiro gave off, like a gunshot. "Akashi, is it a battleship? Then it might be a Re-class."  
"Well... it's big. The filesize of the whole thing is nearly four terabytes... and there's only minimal interior or crew included in it- just the bare necessities, gun houses, barbettes, engines, bridge, the like No crew quarters and facilities, judging by the files. I can´t open it though... I can´t... sadly, I can't prepare you for it in any other way. Just the name and that it's big." Akashi sighed.

"That alone already helps a lot. But that also means that this mission just got a lot more complicated..." Shichiro responded, pacing about the room afterwards in deep thought, pondering visibly. "We´ve got the biggest guns ever mounted on a ship, quite a lot of secondary guns and a lot of anti-aircraft guns... but that's just not enough. It might be enough against the carriers, but we need to survive the best we can for that beast..."  
Silently, he started to run his hand over the nearby drawer, taking in the feeling of the elegant furniture. Touching the sword stand however, he cringed a bit, knowing there used to be a Shin-gunto there that recently took a life... and then something clicked. "...The Special Attack Units. Suicide units were first deployed in October 1944- we might just have some on board, Musashi!"  
The battleship raised an eyebrow. "And? Your point? We don't have much aircraft, Shichiro. Those that we have are barely armed to begin with."  
"...when did you start calling me by my first name, anyways? ….Not that I mind, given that we already kissed back up on the conning tower." A grin later, he continued. "I´m not thinking of the planes- we could load some cordite bags from the main guns onto the barges, and use those as improvised suicide boats. The people driving them are, let's face it, computer programs, so we should have no remorse to sacrifice them when it comes to our own survival."  
"Hm. That might work, provided they aren´t shot down right away." Musashi muttered, nodding lightly. "Also. What about the sanshikidan?"  
Coming over to the bed, he sat down there as well, looking a bit confused. "Didn´t we already establish those things are useless when they´re not used on shipgirls?"  
"No, you´re wrong there... they´re useless for their intended purpose. But they're essentially firebombs." Musashi grinned, turning herself over to the Admiral with a bloodthirsty smirk. "If we fire them at the carriers... it should seriously put a dent to their flight operations."  
"Not a bad idea either. ...In general, I think we should stop thinking about what to load into our cannons and simply tell them to load whatever´s on hand, to speed up the process." Shichiro nodded, placing a hand on her thigh, looking deeply into her eyes. "The anti-air guns will be busy fighting destroyers, but... will your countermeasure work? The main guns will be firing, after all..."  
"Admiral, I don't need to be standing on the main deck to fire them. I can simply stand on the conning tower, for instance." She grinned, grasping the back of his head next. "They have a two kilometer effective range, I think I can safely assume I can still point them into the water from higher ground."  
"Well then." He chuckled, quickly beginning to see where she was going. "With that, I think we´re good for tomorrow."  
"...Are we, though?" Musashi asked, stopping there. "...I know you´re here. And I know we´re doing our best, but... I can´t help but feel scared. If I sink here, it´s the end. I´ll sink forever... dying the same way I did before, essentially."

"Musashi, I can´t promise you anything, now that Nimitz rigged this… but I promise you this." He grasped her hand, pulling her in closer. "No matter what happens, I stay with you until the end. You´re not alone, I'm here- and I'm prepared to give my last for this fight."  
"Shichiro…" She started, her gaze softening a bit, but rather than letting her respond he put a finger on her lips, gently slid her glasses off, and pulled her down onto the bed on top of him, his lips meeting hers.  
That lasted for a few seconds, before she broke off again, starting anew. "Shichiro, i-"  
"Shush." He said, smirking, and then he kissed her again.  
"H-hey, I wanted to-"Another kiss, deeper this time, and they struggled against one another for a bit.  
"Listen, I don't think we-" Yet another, soft and wet, and Musashi gave off a light squeak as she felt his tongue slip into her mouth, the slick appendage licking along the side of her own, sending a shiver down her spine- a graze of his tongue down the underside of hers returned a gasp, and a light moan from her, then she helplessly held onto his shoulders for support, closing her eyes tightly-

A knock on the door followed, and the sound of a stiff salute occurred- within the next nanosecond, Musashi got off of him, and with a strand of her saliva still on his mouth, Shichiro sat up. "Yes?"  
"Admiral, the crew is assembled for your speech now." The first mate said without coming in. "We're all eagerly awaiting it."  
Shichiro blinked, looking over to Musashi with a frown, and then nodded to no one in particular. "Ah, yes… I'll be there momentarily. One minute."  
With footsteps indicating he trotted off, Shichiro let out a deep sigh. "I forgot about that." He said, peeking over to Musashi, who put her glasses back on.  
"I didn´t. But you wouldn´t let me say anything." She lied, as she forgot about it too, but used this as a cover to hide that she was still full of fear when he did that.  
"Of course you were. That's why you were close to crying." He rolled his eyes, getting off of the bed and getting rid of the torn, bloody shirt he still wore, to pick out a new one and put it on. "Well, I suppose you should attend to. Scold me if I do something wrong."  
Musashi nodded. "Yes, you can count on it. …and after we´ve returned here-"  
She kissed his cheek, winking a bit with a smile. "We´ll continue where we left off. I quite liked that."

"Deal." He grinned, slipping his hand into hers after he put on a new cap. "Let's go."

Down below on the main deck, there was an impressive sight to behold, as 3000 men stood in row and order, saluting Shichiro as he walked past them to the podium that was on the edge between the wooden main deck, and the metal forecastle. To say there was tension in the air was a colossal understatement, he felt like the pressure that was put on him would crush him any second now.

Rows upon rows of sailors, nearly half the ships length was covered in people, many of them young and inexperienced, but standing in line. Boys barely older than sixteen stood together with men ranging from twenty five to fourty, making for an incredible mixed bulk- the large rolls of hemp rope directly in front, meant for towing the ship and fixing it in port were almost invisible by the mass of people in green uniforms. Sailors stood on the roofs of the main guns, on spotting posts, Shichiro even saw one on parts of the command tower, looking at him- and next to the podium, the officers awaited him in uniforms ranging from black to white, depending on their position. 6000 eyes rested on him as he climbed the stairs to the podium. He had no speech prepared, had to improvise on the fly… Musashi stood behind, down on the metal deck, watching his back with her arms crossed- unlike him she had no time to change, and still had a rather lacking attire, her sarashi only covering the breasts and anything underneath the skirt, the belly was laid bare from the round that exploded off of it earlier. Deep down, he hoped his own injuries wouldn´t seep through the white sleeves, but for now, it seemed like the flow of blood had dried up. A simple, primitive microphone arrangement provided the necessary amplification to broadcast it to everyone across the deck… he felt his hands trembling, his heart pounding out of his chest, but he forced himself to be calm, and controlled his voice as much as he could.

"Men of the Musashi, of Maya and those brave civilians who´ve joined us to perform duties aboard this proud ship- We live in troubled times." He began, swallowing hard as his mind worked at its hardest to come up with words. "America is winning this war- ship upon ship falls victim to them."  
The first mate glanced over to him, as if reminding him to remain positive- but Shichiro ignored it.

"With my twenty-five years of age, I must look like a child to you despite being taller than most of you, you who are men of your time, proven in combat countless of times, but war runs in my blood. I´m the last of my family who is able to fight. My parents were lost to bombings; my grandparents were killed in a collapsing shelter. My brother was lost at sea; my sister has forever been crippled by a grenade. War has been on my mind for as long as I can remember, and there isn't a single night where I can fall asleep and think about something else, other than war. But yet I'm here, still fighting. I´ve got nothing left to fight for, you say? I do. My honor tells me to finish what they have begun. My heart tells me to seek vengeance for my dead beloved! My blade tells me to kill those who took their lives, and if it's the last thing I do! I will not rest and will not stop until even the last of them is dead!"

Shichiro´s rage was bubbling up. The Abyssals took their lives, yes… but with Nimitz manipulating them, each and every one of their enemies might be an Abyssal for all he knew. He used this rage to make the words form more easily.  
"They try to crush our morale and try to make us surrender. But the Nippon people do not surrender. This country, known for its samurai, embodied in the Yamato spirit, does not fall, and does not surrender to anyone! We stand here, on this giant of the seas, and oppose them! We fight not only for our emperor Hirohito but for our freedom, for our people at home who´ve been blemished, starved and killed due to their bombs!"  
A booming cheer went through the rows of the sailors, and a little bit of relief washed over him- seems like it wasn´t so hard after all But the hardest part was still coming.  
"Tomorrow at dawn, we will fight- American carriers are still in the area, and as soon as our seaplane scouts have given us the direction, we will go there head-on, posthaste. Every gun will be employed by every man capable. Every plane will fly, and if they are shot down, they crash into an enemy! Every barge and boat on this vessel will be outfitted with cordite bags from the main guns, and the bravest and most patriotic of our men will commandeer them to ram the enemy with them, then set the cordite alight to destroy them! Our guns will annihilate them with fire and brimstone, and I don't care which shell is used when- just keep firing as fast as you possibly can, and at any enemy in range!"  
Shichiro´s words rung the audience to awe, and he bit his lip, before balling his fist thrusting it into the air.  
"My friends and comrades! All of us, deep down in our hearts, are samurai! We will fight until the last shell! We will crush them with our determination and spirit- and if our proud ship is deemed to sink, we will ram it into them and take them down with us- a true samurai laughs in the face of death and takes down its enemy down into hell with him! This metal bow is the tip of our sword, and when the time comes, we´ll gut them with our blade."  
Taking a deep breath, he finished his speech, lowering his hand. "Tomorrow, for the second time in the history of our navy, I ask of you all to give your last for the upcoming battle. I hereby order the Z-flag to be raised."  
Awe struck among the men, and after a few seconds of mumbling, the men raised their arms in salute, and cheers of Banzai calls boomed across the main deck.

"Finally- finally I would like to address one thing. It's not just us who suffer in this war for the glory of the greater good, but our home, the ship we serve on, has it the worst. She´s fighting her hardest, and protects us from the Americans with her thick armor. At a time like this, I think it's only fair that we thank her, and say how we feel about her. Our home far away from home, Battleship Musashi- we all love her like the family we were born into. But I love her the most, more than a family, more than a home- I love Musashi like I would love a woman."  
Shichiro finished, and in response, the men cheered loudly. "WE LOVE YOU TOO, MUSASHI!"

Shichiro gave them a slow, but powerful salute, and fell silent. Then he stepped away from the podium, turning around, to see a bright red, twitching, half-crying, half-angry Musashi glare him down without a word, grabbing his wrist and dragging him off to the back of the ship.

"What the hell, Shichiro… In front of all of them?!" Musashi said, her voice wavering a bit as she shook lightly.

"You act like you didn´t like me confessing to you." He smirked, leaning onto the seat of a 25mm triple turret right behind the third main gun.

"I… I do!" Musashi stammered, throwing her hands down as she glared at him. "But not in front of all of them! Do it in private! This… this is so embarrassing!"  
"Ah, but I was talking about the ship, you see." He grinned, crossing his arms.

"I AM the ship!" She insisted, squeaking almost. "Ugh. ...Smart bastard. You planned it like this, didn´t you? Talking about this ship… to embarrass me!"

"No." He shook his head, getting up again, and patting her bare shoulders. "I did plan it that way- but not to embarrass you, but to get it across without stuttering or stammering from myself. For being the first time I confessed love to someone…. I did good, didn´t i?"  
"…Yes. Yes I suppose you did." Musashi averted her eyes, her head turning away from him with her left twintail hanging up on her shoulder, which in turn exposed her left ear.  
"…Heh. I never saw your ears before." He snickered, leaning up to kiss it, which caused a squeak with her- she jumped, and stared back at him as she took a quick step back.  
"Kya! W-what does it matter?! I have ears, yes, like everyone does!" Musashi´s beet red state just didn't let up. "What did you think?!"  
"I always thought those fluffy hair things were your ears. Like a cat." With a chuckle, he reached up to fondle the soft white hair tufts just above her rangefinders.

"I´m not a cat, damn it!" Musashi complained, pushing him off, before crossing her arms with a huff. "Ugh… you." She looked away once more, pouting. "I should praise you for getting me flustered, but I think that would get in your head, too."  
"Yeah. You´ve already praised me way too much for my own good." He snickered,

"If I may..." Akashi intervened, clearing her throat. "That was by far one of the worst speeches i´ve ever heard. You didn´t motivate them, you just told them why they should feel bad and terrified! You should´ve said stuff like 'We will not sink! Musashi will not sink! Japan will not fall! Praise the emperor!' or something. You know, make them think they´re going to survive? Not 'We will die like Samurai!'"  
"Fucking worked though didn´t it." Shichiro muttered, adjusting his cap before he headed back to the superstructure to head back inside. "I need a goddamn shower. I feel like i´ve broken more sweats during that one speech than I did in my entire life so far."

The Zulu-flag waved in the wind, ceremoniously announcing their attack- the sun was beginning to rise, as the black beast of the seas met Task Group 38 at the high seas. No plane was in the air yet- they were steaming at 27 knots, and the recon was prepping their flight. Hundreds of men ran across the deck, in groups of five, ten, and twenty, manning their stations. All guns were loaded, barrel plugs were removed, the bridge, conning towers and shielded AA guns raised their barrels into the skies... While Shichiro gazed at the wooden inscribed plate on the stern facing side of the bridge, which had an ancient poem from the samurai era which was told when a major battle was at hand, and men would die by the hundreds, Musashi took her position on the middle of the superstructure, in front of the smokestack. Type 96 anti-aircraft gun in hand- twelve crates of ammo were stacked nearby, enough for a prolonged fight against torpedoes and nearby destroyers. Her glasses displayed the range, angle of attack and wind conditions, as predicted- she didn´t need a plotting room like her ship-self.  
"Musashi. We´re all green here... how about you?" It came over her headset, and she gave off a light sigh.  
"I´m ready. Let them come. "She responded, seeing a few faint wisps of smoke in the distance... with a lot of noise, the main battery slowly began to move into position- the first pointed right, to starboard, the second pointed left- the rearward gun pointed right, as far forward as it could, and at a high elevation. At the same time, the forward 15m Duplex Rangefinder didn't move at all, while the rear equivalent turned right, mimicking the turret. Then the barges cruised past them at high speed, loaded with cordite, the recon planes took off, and everything was going on at once.  
"Alright. We're doing it. All stations, all stations, ready for surface combat. Load whatever`s first in the magazine, load as fast as you can, just shoot true. Banzai to you all. Main battery, open fire!"  
Shichiros voice was the last thing she heard, before an earthquake shook the whole ship, all three guns firing at once- it was difficult to stay on her feet under the blast pressure and the shockwaves trembling through the ship, but with her legs spread wide and her torso leaning forward, it was possible... though she wouldn't want to do this again.  
"Reload! Reset all guns to firing position and fire when ready!" He boomed, as in the distance a trail of Sanshiki shells rained down on a ship, no doubt causing some fire damage.  
Slowly a few smaller ships came into sight- destroyers, most likely. The first two never made it far, they went up in tremendous explosions caused by suicide craft ramming into them. The next two were picked off by the forward 15,5cm gun- one after the other, without much distinction, in twelve shots total.  
Then the main guns fired again, nearly knocking her over and certainly disorienting her quite a bit- though not enough that she wouldn´t notice the destroyer sneaking close enough to drop its torpedoes at point blank range.  
"Torpedoes!" Musashi announced, quickly reacting and lining up her gun- the recoil hit her like a brick each time it racked through a round, but the shots flew true, blasting a torpedo every three rounds. By the time the last was taken out, she had to reload- and in the meantime, the secondary guns peppered the destroyer with heavy gunfire- it was so close that even the 25mm guns were firing down below.  
Another main gun blast, and this time she crashed against one of the reelings in front of her- she wasn´t flung over, but this would definitely be the only time she´d do this.  
"Hit! Hit! Hit! We've got one! Essex class carrier broken up!" Shichiro announced, though the gunfire only got worse... slowly the bigger ships came into visible range, and it became evident that they were heading on a collision course with them. Five Inch guns from two Essex carriers reached them, plinking off the armor mostly harmlessly, though causing some damages to the currently unmanned 25mm guns that weren't shielded. "Shichiro! Essex class at close range!"  
As soon as she said that, the rear main gun blew holes the size of (CLEVER ANALOGY HERE) into its hull with green smoke pouring out of them, as well as setting fire to half the flight deck with a well-placed sanshiki round. The 15,5cm at the rear proceeded to finish the job with some more well placed shots, causing the Essex to keel over relatively unspectacularly, spilling its half destroyed planes into the water.  
"I can´t believe this is working so well...! Akashi, did you have something to do with it?" Musashi asked in astonishment, as she shot down another salvo of torpedoes the best she could- one of them made it through, striking the starboard side, though the explosion didn´t feel like it was all that threatening- it felt more like a dull boom, likely a dud. American torpedoes were not the best, by far.

"Maybe, hehe." She snickered. "While I can´t really modify anything about the ships- I did manage to disable the subroutine that controls the airplanes. So... all those big scary carriers are limited to their guns, and every plane has a mysterious engine damage inflicted on them~"  
"You're a lifesaver, Akashi!" Shichiro cheered, slamming his hand against something. "Main guns, keep firing! You´re doing a great job, keep it up!"

Six shots from the front, three from the rear, though the rear ones fell short, creating their green smoke effect on the water instead to indicate where they landed.

"I´m starting to get nauseous over here..." Musashi said, seriously shaken up from the weapons fire. "Where´s the rest of the escorts? Surely those weren´t all of them?"  
"They gotta be somewhere, Musashi. Keep your eyes peeled." Shichiro said, breathing a bit heavily. "Hold out a bit longer. We need you up there."

"Got it." Musashi responded, grunting a bit as she wiped her forehead. "Good thing we had some spare bandages handy... I felt naked without my full set yesterday."  
"Oh yes? As naked as you we-"  
The connection broke up from the gun blasts of the first forward guns, the second forward turret was moving into position at the left side of the ship as well, whereas the rear guns fired one another three-gun blast to the direction of a ship on the far side of the ocean.  
"Shichiro- we need to get closer! We're wasting ammo this way!" Musashi said, holding onto the reeling by this time, holding what felt some heavy seasickness.  
"...We're wasting ammo? ...What do you mean, I thought we had plenty of-"  
"No, we don't!" Musashi yelled back at him, glaring a bit. "A hundred rounds per gun! That's it! Don´t waste them!"

"Oh shit... evasive maneuvers!"  
"Wha-"  
Musashi was smacked against the reeling at the rear, nearly losing her anti-aircraft gun as the ship listed heavily to the left, its rudder turning hard- but it was too late to avoid shells flying at them at ferocious velocity. Shells which struck the right forward 12,7cm turret, blowing it into shrapnel and causing a fire- something which was begun to be extinguished almost instantly by the damage control crews.  
"Shichiro! We just lost one of our heavy AA guns!" Musashi screamed into her radio, looking about to try and find the hostiles- only to squeak as a second set of shells flew past her face and rammed into the smokestack instead, blowing chunks off of it. "I can´t see where that came from!"  
„Radar! Do you have anything on bearing 0205?" Shichiro asked in a rather commanding tone, as seconds after, the next volley came crashing down on the flight deck, causing some nasty holes in the concrete and blowing the linoleum stripes off. The thickly armored main turret, however, remained undamaged, and by the visual aid it turned to the relative bearing and fired off its payload.

Musashi meanwhile noticed something approaching from the other side, something she didn´t like to see in the slightest. "Shichiro! Airplanes approaching!" She shrieked, staring at the incoming, roaring birds... a few of them flew low, an indication of them being torpedo bombers. "Bearing 1120- coming in fast!"

"Air radar just reported those. Shit, Akashi, I thought you disabled them!" Shichiro responded, as the heavy anti-aircraft guns moved into position to fight against them. The answer came promptly.

"I did, but there´s a little oversight… I just noticed it. The light aircraft carrier Cabot has a different set of code for its tactics and strategy, and-" She was cut off by the Admiral, who gave off a scream of surprise as the forward battery fired at the direction of the unknown enemy, all guns at once, followed by the smaller 15,5cm guns.

"Shichiro?!" Musashi returned a scream of her own, whilst still staring at the approaching airplanes, ignoring the splashes of eight-inch shells barely missing the ship by a few meters. A third salvo of their other enemy.

"I´m fine..! Jesus, the windscreen of the bridge just cracked lengthwise from the blast pressure of that… Remind me to never order a full broadside, yeah? I might kill everyone in this room."

"Noted." Musashi retorted, gritting her teeth as the AA guns began to fire- and sure enough, the warship got peppered by a whole hailstorm of .50 caliber bullets, as well as larger 20mm shells- 25mm shells were given in return, but on the initial pass, only two of the enemy planes fell to the anti-aircraft guns and splashed down hard some distance behind the ship.  
Nine torpedoes made their way towards Musashi´s port side, and the tan shipgirl had her hands full just shooting down one of them. By the time she got to the third, the torpedoes had already traveled halfway of the distance and headed towards them fast. "Shichiro! Torpedoes incoming- brace for impact!"

Despite her best efforts, the mighty ship was rocked harshly by a spread of five torpedoes, blowing holes into the underwater armor and filling the watertight compartments. Musashi fell off of her feet, slamming hard against the reeling behind her as the Type 96 clattered to the ground. "Fucking Americans…" She groaned, dizzy and disoriented as the airplanes returned for another pass, the heavy AA still firing- although the fifth salvo of the enemy ship caused the starboard side of the heavy AA to come out of commission. Even lying down, Musashi could see one of the 12,7cm guns fly across the smoke of hundred guns firing nearly nonstop- it spun across its own axis, then smacked down on the deck in a thud.

"Musashi?! What's happening?" Shichiro asked with a grunt, while the shipgirl moaned in return, slowly rising back to her feet and lifting the heavy turret once more.

"Hell is what's happening." She muttered, reloading. "The starboard side of the heavy AA is gone. Just a pile of scrap. The portside armor had to take five torpedoes… I couldn´t shoot down all of them at once. I´m sorry."

A single airplane exploded in midair, while a second fell into the ocean with its engine dying, as Musashi began to list a bit, briefly, only to right itself shortly after. The damage control crews were working their hardest.

"No need to feel sorry. You´re doing great… they´ll need to fly back and re-arm for another run, and by then we´ll be ready to take them on with our main battery." Shichiro responded to her in a calming voice, even though things were anything but calm on the bridge. Bullet holes in the windshield, two officers down for the count, the wooden plate splattered with gore- his hands were trembling.

Another salvo of the main guns, this time one gun at a time- as the smoke lifted a bit, one could see a small mushroom cloud in the far distance.

"I think you hit the target, Shichiro…. Train the guns the other way and attack the carrier." Musashi said, breathless as she ducked from a third approach of the fighter planes- her jacket was pelted with fifty caliber rounds which failed to penetrate, but caused nasty burns due to their heat. "Tch… those airplanes are starting to get annoying.  
"I´m not going to use any sanshikis unless we can help it, Musashi. I think we already used most of them anyway… would explain why so many broadsides missed our target. Heavy cruiser by the way." Shichiro responded, panting a bit. "The hydrophone has something… a submarine, perhaps. But right now… hold onto something."  
The ship turned hard once more, demonstrating its rather tight turning circle as it turned its main guns toward the direction where the planes had come from, the medium caliber guns beginning to fire right away. Musashi held onto the reeling the best she could, though her body was starting to give in, much like the ship- it listed rather heavily in the turn, an indication of full watertight compartments weighing it down.

"Light cruiser approaching. Keep your eyes pee- oh, nevermind." Shichiro´s voice came in through the radio just as the rearward 15,5cm gun gave off a salvo, and across the sea a series of small explosions happened. Curiously, the flaming wreckage was still moving, like a ghost ship- an Atlanta-class, its turrets blown apart and three large chunks taken out of the superstructure- the whole deck was smoldering and spewing smoke, but it continued to head to Musashi´s starboard side until the first main turret took it out of its misery.

"We got a minor leakage in the engine room… likely because of the torpedo impacts. Let's hope they don't send any more our way anytime soon or we might have a big problem." The Admiral´s understatement fell flat as a joke, as Musashi could only groan and check her magazine, flinching as a .50 caliber grazed her cheek. By this point there were still about a dozen aircraft swirling around, making approaches from everywhich way and peppering the giant with largely ineffective gunfire to try and wear it down.

"You´re getting annoying!" Musashi shouted, lifting her gun high enough to fire at one of the swirling airplanes- and although she scored a critical hit by the time her magazine ran empty, she felt herself being pushed back with every shot, barely able to hold herself steady from the tremendous recoil…  
The port AA scored two hits as well, some brave men even fired the 12cm rocket launcher located inbetween the search lights, cutting the total number of planes in the air down to 18. Though on the horizon the torpedo bombers returned, and Musashi quickly reloaded while still under fire. "Shichiro! The planes are returning, evade!"  
"I gotcha. Hold on!" He returned, and the ship began a series of zig-zag maneuvers, tacking to each side before returning to the other to try and make aiming a harder job for the planes… they didn´t drop torpedoes this time. They flew higher, a good indicator that they switched to bombs… however, this was not a thing to cheer about. One of them got shot down by Musashi´s anti air fire, but avoiding a bombardment by shaking a huge target around was doomed to fail.  
Heavy explosions rocked the ship and pieces of anti-air equipment were flung across once more. Fire broke out on deck, the heavy anti air fire ceased completely- and only because she held onto the heavy gun the best she could was Musashi not flung overboard by the explosion, but fell short. She smashed down onto the deck at starboard, skipping across it like a leaf in the wind while her nails tried helplessly to grab something as the ship went through a heavy roll.

Finally she was able to grab hold of one of the bitts that had a hemp rope still tied around it, preventing her from falling off after all

"God… damn it all…" She pressed out, hanging halfway off the ship for a moment before she pulled herself back up. Upon doing so, her sarashi came undone, falling off uselessly as the bullet impacts had not only torn her shirt to bits but also significantly weakened her bandages- not caring much for decency in a life or death situation, she took it off completely and hooped one end around the barrel of her gun, twisting several strands worth into a makeshift rope, using the one that had just saved her life as an example. While she couldn´t use it as it was the thickness of her own arm, the makeshift one would do its job of a gun-sling just as well, for a while. Blinking once, she only then noticed her glasses had fallen off. "Shichiro, you there?"

"Yes, I am. What's wrong? What just happened?" Shichiro asked, while the men on the bridge were in a hurry to do their tasks. One was carefully watching the radar, another transmitted orders to the engine room and the wheelhouse, a third read the compass and told them their bearings, a fourth gave orders to train the turrets and load them, a fifth took care of the wounded, as out of sixteen men, five were struck by bullets already.

"Hell, once again." It came as a reply, which made him clench his fist and teeth, slamming the former against the wall. "Bombs came down on the remaining heavy AA guns. Probably nothing left now, but… I'm on the other side of the ship. …Heh, there´s another American falling out of the sky."

Shichiro could merely curse at those news. Things were not going according to plan, but he wasn´t out of options yet. "Radar, did you find the enemy carrier yet?!"  
"I have a bearing sir, but the radar is malfunctioning- the range keeps jumping between ten and fifteen kilometers!" The young man on the radar console said- he was a replacement, the original operator was currently being operated from being shot at.  
"Good enough." Shichiro said, grabbing the shipboard radio. "Plotting room! Train all remaining turrets to bearing 1204 and have the rear turret elevated for fifteen kilometers, the forward ones for ten! Medium artillery- twelve kilometers! Fire when ready!" Then he tapped the earpiece and held onto the nearest handle, as the shattered glass didn´t protect well against the gun blast anymore. "Hold on Musashi. We´re giving them hell."  
From the rear to the front, each gun fired its payload, and the last two made glass shards fly across the room like projectiles- luckily the men ducked in advance, and no one was seriously hurt.

"Rangefinder crew reports hit!" One of the officers shouted, and a cheer went through the men- Shichiro sighed, slowly letting go of the handle he had gripped hold of… he headed back to the controls, about to change the speed back to full- when the roar of an engine caught his attention, and a Hellcat made a beeline for the bridge, pulling up at the last moment after unleashing its six .50BMG machine guns upon the insides.  
Shichiro´s left arm went numb, and he could see it flying across the room on its own, not attached to his body anymore- where others were not so lucky. The navigator, responsible for commands to the wheelhouse no longer possessed a head as a bullet flew straight through it, splattering remains of it across the area, others were cut in two at the midsection. Blood ran across the bridge like a river, and Shichiro fell off his feet, hitting the steel floor hard.  
A scream of pain louder than anything he´d ever uttered left his throat, one that shook Musashi to the bone.

"Shichiro!" She screamed back. "Shichiro! Answer me! God damn it, answer me!" Tears quickly ran down her cheeks, and in a matter of desperation and utter hatred, she grabbed ammunition from the nearby, destroyed 25mm triple turret, loaded it and fired it off against the planes, magazine after magazine after magazine. "A curse upon you all! A curse upon you! Die! Sink! Drop from the skies, you heartless bastards!"

The more she fired, the more inaccurate she became, but her sheer rage made sure she fired enough to be effective. Ignoring recoil, overheating or the pain of the gun smacking into her shoulder repeatedly, after the tenth magazine, her seventh kill fell from the sky, aided by three more from the remaining Type 96 turrets that fired from the bow and the stern. Still, eight Hellcats and five bombers flew across the ship, and finally, she had to quit as her gun was struck by a 20mm shell, blowing the barrel off its firing chamber and effectively cutting the gun in two. Tossing it aside, she sank to her knees and began to sob, resignating.  
"Ngh… Mu...Musashi? Are you crying?" Shichiro´s voice crept back in her ear, and she stopped.

"Shichiro! Are you okay?!"  
"Depends." He groaned, and then screamed in pain once more. "Not so tight, damn it…! …If your definition of 'okay ' is 'I need a uniform with only one sleeve' then yes, I'm okay. My left arm was waving me goodbye before it flew past me, anyway- AA-aagghh!"

"S-shichi…. I… I can´t do anything more, they blew up my gun. I… I don't know what to do anymore..." Musashi sobbed, looking into the skies where a swarm of angry hornets still flew about.  
"Psssh… not even my sister calls me Shichi anymore. Calm down. We´re winning. This is almost over, Musashi… No, god damn it!" Shichiro shouted, and a mechanical click-clack was heard. "The first one who drags me off this bridge gets a bullet in the head! Back to your stations! ... Huh, so the other two carriers are returning… the destroyers? …Yeah, thought so. They do too. Load up the turrets, and prepare for a warm welcome." Shichiro swallowed audibly. "Musashi, if you can´t help anymore, come up to me… we´ll stay together until the end."  
"Y-yes…" The shipgirl said, wiping her eyes and slowly getting back on her feet, before she rushed off the deck to the nearest door leading inside the superstructure… though just before she made it there, Shichiro gave off another loud curse, then there was loud motor noise… and she could see an Avenger bomber colliding with the bridge.

Rumbling, static, more rumbling, a curse, another, and yet another- then Musashi´s heart was soothed again. "I´m okay!" Shichiro told her, steps on metallic floors echoing in the transmission. "Made it out of the bridge before that could take me out… I'll head down to the conning tower and use the war bridge instead- lets meet up there. Don't lose faith now."

"I´ll be there in just a minute!" Musashi threw back, as she ran inside, leaving the door open behind her.

The interior of the once proud ship was a ruin. She headed through the mess hall as a shortcut- two of the tables there had been crushed by steel falling from the ceiling, three others had been thrown against the walls. None of the benches were still standing, and half the lights were destroyed. The room itself was used as a makeshift medical bay, to treat the ones wounded the worst- removing bullets, amputations, treating burns… it got even worse in the corridors, where small fires and bullet holes dominated the sight, along with broken pipes spewing fluids and steam, electric lights flickering from shorting wires. The staircase she wanted to take was at the very front of the superstructure, but the portside of it had collapsed, so she had to get through the kitchen to get there. Unlike the rest of the superstructure it was still filled with people, and some of the younger men blushed when they saw her dashing through topless, but she didn´t care. Not right now. She only stopped very briefly to grab two bottles of Ramune, sort of like a victory cigar, before finally heading up the stairs to the armored bridge, located in the forward conning tower.

Three more explosions, one after another, and as she got to the conning tower she could see why. Bombers tried to take out the second main gun by crashing into it, ineffectually so. "Good, kill yourselves. That's all I want from you." She commented spitefully with a glare, before looking about- there, a white uniform drenched in red, the stump of an arm tied down provisionally by a spare sleeve. She didn´t hesitate to hug him from behind, as tight as she could.  
"Shhh. Calm down, Musashi." He said in return, placing his remaining hand on hers, still clenching the Hino Komura pistol he had loaded to threaten his own officers with. "We´re almost done. Just those two carriers, and we´re done... and the destroyers won´t do us any harm."

"I wish I could believe you." She muttered, shivering as the main battery let loose a salvo. "I wanted a second chance, but even with ideal circumstances, I'm just reliving the past once more. Even without the bulk of the aircraft, I still-"  
Shichiro turned around and kissed her, forcefully, pressing her against the wall with his body, just to shut her up. "Don´t think about it. We´ll make it through this… and then you´ll never have to live through this ever again." He chuckled softly. "What's with the soda?"  
Musashi blushed, peeking down to the Ramune she brought. "You don't smoke, but… I figured a victory cigar would come in order. So… once all of this is over, let's have some of that."  
"Essex-class carrier hit, flight deck on fire! Fletcher class one and two, destroyed!" The officer in charge of the guns, younger than Shichiro, reported with trembling hands. "Yorktown-class carrier continues to advance! Three destroyers escorting! …the skies are clear, Admiral."  
"Yorktown…?" Musashi asked, still breathless.  
"Enterprise." Shichiro answered with a huff, letting off of her and turning to the speech pipe connected to the wheelhouse. "Turn 34 degrees to port! Set a collision course with the Yorktown-class!" He then swapped over to another speech pipe, labelled gunnery. "Train all turrets 34 degrees to starboard! Rear facing guns ready to fire." He let out a deep breath, then walked over to the armored windows. "Let's see your guts, Grey Ghost. I bet you we´ve got more ramming force than you do."

While the ship was streaming ahead at full speed, damage reports came in like a storm, the main guns kept firing ahead, sinking the destroyers they would face with precise strikes. Only those two carriers remained, and they proved to be persistent.

"...Thanks, Akashi." Shichiro said, as he noticed the pain in his arm disappeared at last, and the bleeding stopped at the same time. He received no answer… an eerie silence, one that made him feel more uncomfortable than anything he´d ever done. The enemy carrier came into sight, far on the horizon, and it was coming ever closer- the main battery couldn't keep up with its speed, its zig-zagging course and the wind that picked up speed this far out in the ocean… in the midst of all of it, he couldn´t take it anymore.

"Musashi. There´s something I need to know." He said, slowly turning around to face her.  
"Yes…? Ask me anything." The shipgirl said, pale and covered in sweat, dirt and a bit of his blood.

"…Why is it that your nipples are pink, if your skin is dark?"

She blinked, widening her eyes, and flushed a little bit, her arms covering up her chest that was left bare until that point. "W-what's with that all of the sudden? What does that have to do with ANYTHING?!"  
"I need some distraction to keep my sanity. Tell me." He said, tucking his hand into his pocket. "You´re pink down there, too. "

"W-well obviously! I… I... ugh…" Musashi stuttered, trying to find words.

"Any guesses, Lieutenant Sageru?" Shichiro grinned, looking over to the man next to him- in his thirties, but by far the oldest on the bridge right now.

"No offense, Sir, but I prefer women with flat chests." He smirked at them, before returning to look out of his binoculars.

Shichiro was about to make another one of those teasing questions but Akashi answered first, suddenly speaking up again.

"It's because she was the same tone as her sister originally, before they painted her black." The repair ship muttered as if she was busy with something else. "Sorry for the silence. I´m working on something here. …Check your hydrophone, boss. An enemy is following you at the starboard side."

Shichiro nodded quietly, smirking to Musashi still. "Helm, check the hydrophone. And keep her steady- we don´t want to spook our prey, do we?"  
"Sir, the first main turret reports a jam in the second barrel!" A young officer said, running up to him and blushing at the sight of Musashi, who glared back at him. "It- it seems the barrels got too hot, and a shell lodged in there now..."  
The Admiral nodded, cursing quietly. "Can you get it out?"  
"A two-ton projectile? We would need dock equipment, Sir. Or... well..." The officer averted his gaze. "...Perhaps with a lot of lubricant or a heavier load we could pry it loose. But it might destroy the barrel."

Shichiro looked to Musashi, and then pondered, grasping the stump of his arm. "...It's not like we can lose much more at this point. Use an extra bag of powder and fire it at the Essex."  
"Yes Sir." The young man walked off, timidly peeking at Musashi, whom softened her gaze a bit and uncrossed her arms, watching him flush deep red.  
"Last stand, hmm?" She said, looking at his torn arm stump. "It's now or never."

"Yeah. Anything left to say before we face the hellfire?" He chuckled, letting go of his now useless meat and touched her shoulder instead, smiling softly.  
"...You damn well know I'm too ashamed to say it now." She grinned, cupping his cheek.

"...Do it anyway, you magnificent girl."

"I love you, Shichiro."

"I love you too, Musashi."  
"ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

A hard push forced everyone off their feet, cemented steel creaked below them as the metal forecastle buried its way into the starboard side of Enterprise´s bow. Undeterred, the main guns fired their volleys at the Essex next to them, who had begun peppering the battleship with its five-inch guns- and from close distance, the nine guns each made a devastating impact on the carrier, which was blown to pieces by its own bombs, torpedoes and volatile aircraft fuel exploding. Musashi`s first battery lost half of its second barrel, as it sheared off in the middle and was torn apart in its own muzzle blast.

Both Musashi and Enterprise came to a complete halt, each other's force canceling the other out, and yet their secondary guns- Single five inch guns and AA guns on the side of the carrier, 15,5cm artillery on the battleship- kept firing regardless. Planes that weren´t flung off the side from the collision were shot to bits, while the Enterprise made short work of Musashi`s radar and rangefinding equipment, the smaller guns fired into the windows, ruined the remaining light AA guns, tried to do as much damage as they could before their inevitable end.

After a few seconds of chaos, the main battery had reloaded and aligned themselves- one gun pointing down at the deck of the carrier, the other pointed at the island.  
"All guns loaded and ready!" A gunnery officer reported, after getting up from the floor.

"Fire! Everything you´ve got!" Shichiro yelled at him, still halfway down- and a second later, he didn´t regret his decision not to get up too quickly. The enormous force of five big guns and three smaller, but still quite large guns firing at once slammed two officers against the wall behind them, while a third was flung across the room, and a forth crashed against a nearby lookout telescope.  
Explosions across the carrier occurred, shrapnel and debris was flung across its own carcass and Musashis mutilated hull, while the battleships powerful engines worked on driving the ship forward regardless, nonstop, bifurcating the dead ship and moving onward.  
By the time everyone was back on their feet, the two pieces of Enterprise were sinking rapidly, but Musashi wasn´t looking good either.  
"Damage report..!" Shichiro ordered, looking about. "Every damage control group has to work on fixing the leakages! Pumps at full power!"  
Some tired faces nodded, and got to relaying the orders, while Shichiro herself let out a deep, long sigh. "Alright... that's over. It's over now, Musashi." He muttered, looking over to the tanned girl who was leaning against the cold steel wall, relaxing herself.  
"It isn't." Akashi said, grimly. "Didn´t you check the sonar? That Re-class?"  
Shichiro blinked, turning on his heel. "What did the Hydrophone report?"  
An officer groaned, rubbing his sore arm, before turning to him. "It was destroyed in the crash, but last we saw there was a large signal at the starboard side. Likely a reef of some kind- too big to be a submarine..."  
"How far?!" Shichiro paled, and nearly screamed at him.  
"H-hundred meters..." The man blinked, stepping back a bit. "Is there somethin-"  
He didn´t let him finish his sentence- Instead, Shichiro snatched one of the binoculars off of the shelf and ran outside, out of the armored bridge and out into the open. A hundred meters starboard-  
More like two hundred, but maybe they turned since the battle against Enterprise had happened. The sea bubbled up, then, suddenly, a geyser shot up into the sky, along with a large, black bow. Metal teeth adorned it at the very tip, a brightly glowing green eye looked over to him... large triple turrets began to turn as the pitch black superstructure of the ship came out of the water- and just barely, he could see bulkheads opening along the broadside. Torpedo tubes.  
"ACTION STATIONS! All guns turn at the enemy warship! Fire when ready!" Shichiro shouted at the top of his lungs, and sure enough their own turrets turned while more and more of the ship became visible. Ash-white, ghostly was the deck. Red tips along the smokestacks, all of the gun barrels were blood red as well. By the time Shichiro had run up to the upper level, looked around, and found an intact 13mm twin machine gun, the torpedoes had been launched, and he had just about a second worth of reaction time to shoot down one of them before the other three slammed into the hull and detonated.

He was thrown off, the entire ship leaned, but didn´t give in despite the heavy blow.

"G-Ggaah..." The Admiral groaned, clawing into the metal underneath him as he glanced up ahead.  
"Shichiro! What the hell is that? That's not a Re-class!" Musashi shouted, running after him and helping him up.  
"No, it's the Flying Dutchman." He pressed out, blood spewing from the stump of his arm again. "Can you mount the gun?"  
"Sure... But I thought that was a sailboat." The girl said, hopping on the seat he was flung off of, and aimed down at the ship. "...Just, anywhere?"  
"Aim for the rangefinders. And no... its Admiral Nimitz´s own ship. The Flying Dutchman. ...OR rather, a recreation of it. The guns seem a bit smaller than the last time I´ve seen that thing."

All four main turrets of the ghost ship were in position, which was pitch black aside from the pure white deck, and by now, ten five inch guns were taking the rest of the superstructure apart. One shot down the rear mast, which fell over into the water with terrifying noise, rigging tearing off and cutting valuable copper wires needed for the radio transmissions.  
"So much for the Z-flag." He sighed, "And the communications... huh, I wonder why they aren´t firi-"  
One after another, twelve gun barrels out of four turrets launched their payload into Musashis broadside as the ship was just making a sharp turn, throwing off their aim just a little. AP shells shot straight through the thick belt armor like it wasn't there, and out the other side, while one that was particularity badly aimed took down the entire rear conning tower- and with it, about eighty men and most of their surviving anti-aircraft equipment. The shell ricochet off of the steel then continued its way, and with it, the rear 15,5cm turret was blown off of its barbette, which then exploded violently, causing even more damage.

The five inchers shortened down the smokestack, peppering the superstructure in holes, causing fires all over... a devastating hit, and even the anti-aircraft guns of the enemy ship fired, though with little effect by comparison.  
Musashi, the shipgirl, had a clear shot at the rangefinders and let her machine gun do the work it was designed to do, while Musashi, the battleship returned fire with her eight main guns and the forward 15,5cm triple turret. That was when Shichiros previous strategy began to fall apart, as the guns spewed sanshiki and high explosive rounds instead of AP shells, causing superficial damage rather than what they were hoping for.

"Damn it all… Akashi?! Tell me you have something to beat this thing with!" Shichiro yelled, watching a flight deck unfold inbetween the two fake smokestacks. Those fighters better be disabled…

"I do but I need a few minutes more." Akashi responded, breathing heavily. "Keep them busy at all costs. I´ll get you outta this one."

"We don´t HAVE a few minutes, Akashi- not under these cirumstances!" He retorted angrily, while Musashi dismounted, or rather, tore one of the 13,2mm machine guns out of its twin mount and handed him the box full of magazines for it.  
"We need to get moving, Shichiro. Get to lower ground before this thing blows the tower straight off of the ship." She said grimly, clutching his shoulder as his arm was not there. "I know we can`t abandon ship, but if we sink, we´re better off on the main deck than here."  
"We won't sink, not yet." He huffed, though he nodded and got moving with her, downwards. "We´ve spent so much ammo and spare vehicles, and shed some weight by losing parts of our ship, yet the citadel is still fine. We can still correct the list. We`ll float, for a while anyway." He glared at the enemy ship, which was still spewing fire, while running down the stairs. "Although... although..."  
"Yeah." Musashi said, biting her lip hard. "...Yeah, I know. ….I´ve got nothing either. We can just keep fighting."  
"Yeah. I´ve got nothing left. No plan. No miracle, no ace in my sleeve... we can just fight until we stop breathing."  
Musashi turned hard to starboard, ramming the enemy ship aside, throwing off the aim of the rear guns which fired directly against the rear gun instead of into the hull... while being the most heavily armored bit of the ship, it could not withstand a direct assault from point blank range... violently, the behemoth gun exploded, and tons of shrapnel were spread across the ocean, a massive burning wreck remaining, still explosions ruptured through it. Musashi was grazed by a spray of metal debris- bolts and nuts from the machinery pieces, while part of a human body- which part could no longer be determined- was flung up to the command tower, hanging off of the main mast.  
The forward guns fired. Each shell made an equally terrifying impact, and the second 15,5cm gun was taken out- along with the second 46cm turret, which was blown apart, the heavy barrels falling out of their mounts and down onto the deck.  
Musashi, the shipgirl, kept firing her machine gun, reloading after every thirty shots, and then they kept running.  
"Just a little longer! I´m nearly finished! Uploading the code now!" Akashi cried out into their ears, panting heavily.

"We´ll hold out as long as we can. If we´re unlucky or you´re too slow, then this is it. ...bury me together with Musashi." Shichiro said, grim, but determined. "We`ll fight until our last moment, Akashi. But hurry up... Our ship is being taken apart, bit by bit."  
A last salvo, of two lonely 46cm guns, hit the command tower of the Dutchman, but at this rate they probably didn´t have a command staff at all. It was probably completely automated.  
On the flight deck of the Abyssal monster ship, planes were brought into position- and without warning, they launched, heavy jet engines screaming loudly as they flew the shortest distance- from the flight deck straight into Musashi´s command tower. The wheelhouse. Their last efforts were being destroyed... Musashi was no longer maneuverable. The only offensive weapons left were a heavy machine gun with its ammo nearly depleted, two 46cm guns, and whatever Akashi was preparing to help them with.  
Second upon second passed, and with each one, the five inch guns took more of the ship apart...Musashi and Shichiro had gone into hiding behind the heavier debris, but it wouldn´t do for long.  
"Musashi." He finally addressed her, gripping her arm tightly. "...I love you. I love you with every fiber of my body. And if this is how it ends- then I'm happy."  
"Shichiro... I wish I had met you eighty years ago." Musashi smiled, and then leaned in for a soft, gentle kiss that lasted as long as a whole minute, the both of them awaiting their inevitable end.

"GOT IT! Take that you Abyssal fucks!" Akashi squealed, and the both of them opened their eyes as off the stern of both ships, a third one rapidly emerged from the seas, bow first.  
And what a massive bow it was. Much like Musashis, but more streamlined, much more modern looking- and with a large muzzle inbetween bulbous bow and forecastle.  
"...You can´t be fucking serious..." Shichiro breathed out, staring wide eyed at the spectacle that was unfolding.  
One turret, two turrets, a third one, then a large, exaggeratingly modern command tower- a smokestack, secondary turrets, a rear mast which could only be described as antennas- a fourth turret, and a fifth. Then, instead of the flight deck- there was a giant rocket nozzle that lit up, and propelled the ship forwards.  
"I thought you´d disable the ship with a command, or something..." Shichiro muttered, staring at the fictional ship that became reality.  
"Hah! That´d be too easy...! Instead, I sent you a battleship... no, a Space Battleship! Space Battleship Yamato!"

The Flying Dutchman broke off, accelerating to significant speed and turning starboard, its cannons rotating into position- but Yamato was much faster. Its cannons trained at three times the speed, and before they knew it, each of its 48cm and 20cm triple shock cannons fired bright blue beams of plasma into the black hull of the enemy ship, disabling its engine in a single broadside. From its smokestack, a dozen guided missiles were launched, each of them aiming for one of the five-inch guns and taking them out precisely and violently- by the time the Dutchman had its guns locked on target it fired instantly- though the shells evaporated harmlessly on the thick energy shield that the spaceship employed.

"Oh my god, I'm having the time of my life here..!" Akashi giggled, squealed and cried out, obviously in command of the vessel in Kure Arsenal Gray, which fired another broadside of its shock cannons, this time aimed for the flight deck which was about to deploy another wave of suicide fighters.  
Underneath the waterline, four torpedoes were launched from the Dutchman that exploded on impact with the shield- but aside from a little flickering, there was no considerable damage. Instead Yamato returned fire right away with four of its missiles, fired from launchers right above the water, straight into the black armor plating... 46cm guns of Musashi´s fired their payload into the bow of the Flying Dutchman, but against Yamatos third Shock Cannon barrage it was almost disappointing to watch- the battleship turned the guns around while firing them, causing the beam to cut both smokestacks and part of the command tower clean off, while another half was firing straight into the gun barrels of the first main turret, generating a violent explosion that sheared off the entire bow of the Dutchman.  
"Agh, damn it, this things tougher than it looks! Why won't it sink?" Akashi cursed as Yamato spewed shock beams left and right, causing impressive damage all over the ship, but yet it refused to even list at all.  
"Akashi... it's an Abyssal ship..! It won´t be defeated even if it sinks...!" Shichiro, finally recovered from the shock, had grasped the situation again. "If it sinks it´ll just attack us from the bottom of the ocean instead!"  
"Then what the fuck are we supposed to do against it?" The repair ship growled, as a concentrated broadside made the command tower explode into a thousand pieces.  
"The Wave Motion Gun! You have to obliterate this thing, Akashi- you gotta use the main gun!"  
"Ugh, fine! But I'll have to steer clear of you guys, or I'll hit you with it, too!" Yamato´s engine pulsated back into life, and the super battleship roared ahead faster than a destroyer at top speed, before RCS thrusters on the side turned it around practically on its heel. Facing down the bow with the other bow, the Dutchman´s engines, what was left of them, fired up and propelled the ship straight forward onto a ramming course.  
"Wave motion generator at 80%... 90%...100... 120%! Safety lock disengaged! Target scope open!" Akashi recited happily, despite all of those phrases being relatively meaningless for a remote controlled warship.  
"Akashi, we`re about to die. If you´d please...!" Shichiro reminded her. "And count down from ten!"  
"Gotcha! Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five...!"  
Shichiro grasped Musashi, whom was still in a state of shock and was unable to really respond until she felt his hands on herself again, at which point she dropped her machine gun and simply nuzzled as close as she could, not resisting as he forcibly closed her eyes.  
"Four! Three! Two! One! Wave motion gun, firing!"  
From the muzzle at the bow, a beam much like the shock cannons erupted, but at least twenty times as thick and a thousand times brighter. The beam alone lit up the entire area like a nuclear explosion. The air ionized, smelled of ozone and itched along the skin like a static shock. The shockwave caused the fires along the starboard side of Musashi to go out in an instant, and the beam continued to travel- as if the Flying Dutchman wasn´t really there. It flew straight through like a hot knife through butter, melting the rest of the ship where it stood- for several seconds, the bright blue beam shot through the ocean, then it died down, and the gunport on the bow of Yamato closed again.

Slowly, Shichiro and Musashi opened their eyes again... The Flying Dutchman was gone. The American fleet was gone. Yamatos turrets returned to their idle, 12´clock position, and it slowly approached Musashis broadside, firing its rocket anchor into the broken bow to tie it against the space battleship for added buoyancy.  
"Alright... done and done." Akashi said, satisfied. "I´ll work on getting you out, safely... it´ll take a while, the code is completely scrambled, but... you´re no longer in danger of dying. Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable on the Yamato, she´s got interior."  
Shichiro smiled warmly, standing up, and gazing up at the sun, before taking a look at the wrecked, but floating battleship they were standing on. "...Sorry Akashi. I gotta refuse that one. The only ship worth standing on right now is this one right here- Musashi."

"I agree wholeheartedly." The shipgirl threw in with a broad smile, and tears flowing down both cheeks, light sniffles adding to her emotional outbreak. "...I´ve survived. I didn´t win the war... but I survived, against all odds."  
The Admiral grinned, scratching the back of his head. "Well, no, not really- I mean, Akashi helped out a lot. If those planes had launched-"  
Musashi punched him in the guts, and gripped his collar afterwards. "Shut up. You were the one who made this all possible." She grinned widely, crying without shame or regret. "You came on board this ship promising me you´d bring it through hell and high water- and you did. You did, and you´ve outdone yourself. You kept this promise... to me... you´re the greatest man who ever lived."  
"Is that so..." He returned a light grin, looking deep into her eyes. "I think I'm just really good at computer games if I can win a game I've never even played before right off the bat, on highest difficulty."  
"Just accept your praise from me, jackass." Musashi huffed, letting go of his collar- only to kiss him again with a grin. Shichiro responded in kind, pressing her down onto the deck, where their kisses continued for a solid five minutes, growing heated and passionate- only to die down again.  
"Uh. You´re still broadcasting." Akashi reminded them, clearing her throat. "And I can get you out in five minutes. ´The code is almost ready."  
"Ah, shit." Shichiro complained, getting back up and dusting off. "...Well, once I'm out of here, and have both of my arms again... I think I know what to do."  
"What's that?" Musashi asked, smirking as she joined him in a stand. "I think I have quite a good idea, the way you were reaching your hand up my waist."  
"A lot of coffee- at least a liter worth. Then a shower, a real one... maybe a bath, actually. Then, after making sure the fleet is alright, I'll invite you up to the office and we´ll make out... and then.. We´ll have a lot, A. Lot. Of sex."  
"...I'm inclined to agree with most of your points. But I dislike coffee." Musashi chuckled, wrapping her arm tightly around Shichiros waist.  
"...Either way, this was the experience of a lifetime. Not one I'd want to repeat, but an experience. ...Goodbye, Musashi. I´m sorry things didn´t work out for you this way in the real world... but here, you gave it your all."  
Musashi tossed her rangefinder away after undoing it, and leaned her head against his shoulder... then she closed her eyes, and kept them shut until her mind disappeared from the simulation, and returned to reality.

* * *

As they opened their eyes, blood flowed in their veins again, their minds were disoriented but sharp- it didn´t take much effort for either of them to come out of the seats they had been in for the last three days.  
"Man… I would've never thought I'd be glad to feel my arm again." Shichiro muttered, fondling the arm that had been cut off in the simulation. It was a bizarre feeling almost, getting used to doing things with one arm and now being ambidextrous again.

"It's good to be decent again, as well. I was beginning to think you´d stare a hole into my chest." Musashi muttered, glancing over to him, instinctively crossing her arms over. A chuckle came as response.

"I can´t help looking if you´re beautiful, you know. Either way… Akashi? Was that a successful test to you?" Shichiro´s question brought the tranquil, half asleep repair ship to her feet with a grumble.

"Depends on how you look at it. " She began, slapping a piece of paper she printed out a minute before. "The simulations stable and running as intended… improvements could be made in the firewalls and encryption. And before you ask, no, you wouldn´t have survived. There was a magazine fire in progress which would`ve likely destroyed the ship- but it was about eighty meters away from you, so I kept it from you."  
"How very nice." The tanned woman muttered.

"Either way… turns out there was a dongle attached to the server that I didn´t notice until the thing was running." Akashi glanced at the two, biting her lip visibly. "It was the one that hacked the system, containing the code and everything… and it had a remote wireless network that ran even after I cut the phone line. Not enough to sustain the appearance of Nimitz you saw but certainly enough to control the Dutchman and see things from its perspective. So… she knows you´re alive."  
"And we beat her at her own game, literally." Shichiro smirked, stretching and flexing as his body was stiff from remaining in that seat for days. "Really though- it wouldn´t be any fun if I died in a computer game, rather than by her own hands, no?"  
"….I don't think she would´ve spared us over that." Musashi intervened, huffing lightly. "Either way. I need a bath, and some exercise to get my body back into fighting shape. I´ll see you around."  
"Hang on just one second, Musashi." He stopped her, grasping her arm, before looking into her eyes. "….did you mean what you said? Did what we go through there have any meaning to you?"  
Musashi stopped, and visibly lowered her head a bit, swallowing drily.

"….Did it for you?" She returned, quietly.  
"I asked first, Musashi." Was his response, though his grip slackened a bit. "….If you want to keep it a dream that didn´t mean anything, I… understand that."

The tanned girl stiffened, and yet despite being taller than him seemed twice a small right now.

"….No, I… d-damn it… I'm no good at this. I… I want this, Shichiro. If you´re okay with it, then I… then I want to continue where we left off." Akashi had to hold back a snicker, seeing the proud battleship meekly bring out these words, as shy as a schoolgirl.

"I have a better idea." He said, grasping the woman's other arm and turning her to face him- before cupping her chin and kissing her deeply on the lips. It was brief but passionate, and brought a few tears into the red eyes of the girl. "Instead of continuing- let's start over, but for real this time."  
"That…. That felt totally different…" She whispered, touching her lips slightly in amazement. "That felt nothing like how it did before…"  
"Well of course it did. Before your minds processed your feelings by expressing feelings you´ve felt before, from memory. Most of what you saw heard and felt were things from your own memory- that saves a whole lot of processing power and space on my rig here." Akashi explained with a grin, amused by their show and demeanor. "So what you´ve felt in the simulation was the feeling of a kiss as you´ve felt it before."

"….But that… was my f-first." Musashi´s head turned away in further shame, hiding from the both of them.

"…Well, then that was the feeling of how the Boss felt it, anyway." A wider grin, directed at Shichiro, made his eyes go wide.

"….Th-that's why it felt like kissing Lightning when I kissed Musashi…"

"….You –kissed- that damned planegirl at one point?!"

A discussion broke out that lasted half an hour, after which Musashi simply huffed, kissed his cheek, and went off to her bath. Shichiro sighed, but shook it off, focusing on more important matters.

"So what are you going to do with it, Akashi?" He finally asked, after deciding against running after her. He´d just invite her to the office in the evening again- and this time they might do more than just watch old war movies.

"Probably take a wrench to it and smash it up." The repair ship sighed. "It's no good if it kills people, y`know? It was kind of a dangerous idea to begin with, its better this way."  
"I don't think so. If you can get the foreign code out- undo the changes… we could use this." He smirked, his arms crossing over as he gave her a confident glance. "Think about it. This could be the best combat training we can get- practicing moves for hours at a time, without any exhaustion. Firing practice, sparring, even mobility training… if we can simulate reality, we should make use of it."

A grin followed, and he patted her shoulder with a wink before he went off as well.

"Just make sure it`s not connected to the internet."

"Yeah… about that. We won't have any internet for a few days, at least… that's what a wirecutter will do to ya, heh."

"….God damn it Akashi."

 _Fin_


End file.
